BBVA has presented this Thursday the results of 2024, but the focus is in its purchase offer (OPA) on Banco Sabadell. An offer that its president, Carlos Torres, believes that “in the coming weeks” can be unlocked and that the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) gives its OK to the operation, but with conditions. Nor does it see necessary to improve the price of the proposal, despite the fact that Sabadell’s action has come to overcome the figure that BBVA proposes.
Again, Torres has assumed that if the integration goes ahead, there will be dismissals and closures of branches. “Yes there is a certain reduction of template and offices, but compared to previous operations are lower quantities,” he justified and recalled that the bank already made an employment cut of 2,900 people, “always very dialogue .
Torres has opened the door for the operation to come forward, but without merger or that is delayed. “Our intention from the beginning” is to make “sense a fusion of the two entities” and “that remains the plan.” “We hope to carry it out once the exchange operation ends. If we delay or delay the merger, the operation is still attractive without merger, because most synergies would be achieved, ”he has admitted. “Nothing of our plans has changed, following the fusion of the exchange of shares, if the operation was not done or delayed, it still has all the sense.”
He has also admitted that the bank tax weighs in that calendar, because if it becomes a larger entity, the tax would also be greater. “It is something that we will have to analyze in your time, it is not that the merger occurs on day one, requires planning”, which will have been “many months until the merger is carried out.” “The tax could influence the calendar, plan when to do the operation to minimize the damage given the progressive scale of the tax.”
The operation was leaked in full Catalan elections
The president of BBVA has assured that the operation leaked on April 30 of last year, in full Catalan elections, and that has marked the future of the offer. Also that it is dialogue with the government and especially with the CNMC, in order to accept the conditions it has proposed or modify them, but giving green light to the OPA.
“We are very sensitive to the concerns expressed by the Government, especially about SMEs,” he said. “Offices will not be closed when there is no other than 300 meters away, they will not close in codes [postales] of low rent, of per capita income of less than 10,000 euros and we will not leave municipalities where there are less than three entities, ”he has listed.
“We hope that the CNMC approves us with commitments, in line with which we have presented, depending on the test could be some modification, I hope an agreement with the commitments,” he said. If that happens, “the Minister of Economy can take the operation to the Council of Ministers to modify the conditions in the event that it is not approved clean. If the government is approved clean, it cannot put conditions where there are no ”, although for what it has said, that scenario is not the one that arises.
Torres has recognized that he did not see Sánchez in Davos. “I think the government president said that this matter is in the hands of the CNMC, it is the one that has to decide. We maintain a good relationship with the Government of Spain. We speak recurrently, of different topic, of the financial system, of this operation, we are sensitive to what they have expressed, ”he repeated.
On the margin, he also pointed out that they will maintain the operational headquarters in Sabadell and “the registered office, to the extent that the entity continues to exist, we would keep it in Catalonia.”
Regarding the price, there is no margin of improvement. “We must not touch the offer,” because he understands that Sabadell’s stock market is supported by BBVA’s own purchase offer and there is a correlation between the actions of the two banks. BBVA proposes 2,134 euros for each title of its competitor, which is the equivalent of a new and 0.29 euros in cash per 5,0196 shares of Sabadell. This trades this Thursday at 2.28 euros.
The OPA on Sabadell occurs at a sweet moment for the bank because its benefit is firing again to record figures. For the first time, in 2024 it exceeded the barrier of 10,000 million euros of profitability. Specifically, he won 10,054 million euros, 25.4% more than in 2023. That leads Carlos Torres to talk about an “excellent year of growth and profitability” and will translate into an increase in remuneration to Shareholders
It will allocate 5,027 million euros, half of the benefit, to give back to its shareholders, which represents 0.87 euros for each action. This remuneration includes a shares of shares worth 993 million euros.
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