Just a few hours after learning of the failure of his purchase offer (takeover bid) for Sabadell, the president of BBVA, Carlos Torres, rules out his resignation. “No, my continuity did not depend at all on this process,” he responded to the media's question about whether he considered saying goodbye. “My job is to try those things that we believe in, it has been the board of directors that has made the decisions,” he defended. “It's our job to try those things that make sense. It was a fantastic missed opportunity.”
Torres has reiterated that the failed takeover “is no reason to resign. We have to be judged on the results and the bank's service to customers.”
Both Torres and the CEO of BBVA, Onur Genç, have defended the operation in which “difficult moments” have been experienced. “It has been a much longer authorization process than we had planned, because there have been decisions that we did not have in mind, because they were unprecedented, such as the decision of the National Markets and Competition Commission to take the analysis to Phase 2, which delayed the deadlines.” Part of the difficulty is that the authorization process has been long, we have had 30 authorizations.
He has also admitted the contrary opinion of Sabadell's board of directors. “The result is what it is, we accept it and look forward.” Also, that “it is not what we expected nor what we would have desired. We did what we believed.”
Pinch among retailers
Torres has defended the content and strategy of the operation on several occasions. “The operation was attractive and rational,” he repeated on several occasions. “It has been a long and difficult process, we have persevered and been disciplined in price, taking into account that it was not about carrying out the operation at any price.”
“We don't know what would have happened with a higher price,” he acknowledged, “but we couldn't go any further. We had no room for a higher price,” the president of the Basque bank repeated.
“It is not appropriate for us to give an opinion on the supervisor, we trust the supervisors, they have surely made the most appropriate decisions, no matter how much we think that the possibility of a second takeover bid could have influenced it. We said that it was hypothetical and uncertain and there may be shareholders who thought so and have been left without the first or the second.” “The expectation of a second takeover bid was unfounded and has been seen.”
Between this puncture, Torres has admitted the low pull of the offer between “retailers and passives (the funds that replicate indices), which have attended less.
“Acceptance among minorities (who did not have the shares deposited in BBVA) has been lower, perhaps due to the expectation of a second takeover bid, that could have influenced it, as well as the contrary opinion of Banco Sabadell,” he repeated. “Those that replicate indices have come less than we expected, we guessed that half. And the institutional ones, the large funds that had told us that they would accept the offer, have come.”
“The institutional, although we do not have the figures, has attended, but in the retail sector the possibility of a second takeover bid could have been decisive. That and the doubts about whether or not the operation could be successful. Our estimates have not been met, but we had those estimates”, that they were going to reach more than 50%, Torres admitted. “The shareholders are the owners, they are the ones who decide and we assume their decision, we continue to look forward.”