The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) will make a decision this week on the analysis of the merger that BBVA wants to carry out with Banco Sabadell if the offer launched to the shareholders of the Catalan entity is successful.
The first phase of analysis of the operation is about to end, so the CNMC has to make a ruling in these days and clarify if you have already concluded your study or if you consider that it requires a more detailed analysiswhich translates into a second phase.
Most of the operations studied by the CNMC are approved in the first phase, as happened with the merger of CaixaBank and Bankia, which gave rise to the largest financial group in Spain, although this involves meeting a series of conditions to guarantee competition.
From the beginning, the BBVA leadership has expressed his confidence that the operation will get the go-ahead of Competition in that initial phase. In the words of the bank’s CEO, Onur Genç, we hope you don’t see “any problems.”
The CEO of BBVA believes that the merger of CaixaBank and Bankia, which gave rise to a larger group than the one that BBVA and Sabadell would create, It is a clear precedent for the CNMC to approve the operation in the first phase, Apart from the fact that they have studied the possible merger and do not see competition problems.
Sabadell, however, has always insisted on the convenience that the analysis of the CNMC goes further and includes a second phase.
The CEO of the entity, César González-Bueno, recalled in an interview with EFE that there has been “an unprecedented level of agreement” in which unions, businessmen, autonomous communities and “the entire political arc” They have considered that this operation raises competition problems.
The path chosen by the CNMC
This week it will finally be known which path the CNMC chooses and some sources even point to a third possibility in which Competition decided to extend the initial phase before resolving.
In parallel, BBVA’s offer to Sabadell shareholders is still pending approval from the National Commission of the Stock Markets, which is key to approving the takeover prospectus and for the bank to move forward with its purchase plans.
In this case, the question is whether the stock market supervisor decides to wait to hear the Competition opinion on the merger, which could be delayed beyond the first half of November if the CNMC extends the analysis period.
Once all these obstacles have been overcome, BBVA’s idea is to offer Sabadell shareholders a payment of 0.29 euros in cash and deliver one new share for every 5,019 of Sabadell, taking into account the dividends paid by both entities in October.
And in the event that the takeover bid was successful, because more than 50% of the shareholders of the Sabadell decided to sell their titles to BBVAwhich would allow it to take control of the Catalan entity, the merger into the BBVA group would be pending, which the Government flatly rejects from the first minute.
Regarding the possibility that the Executive, ultimately, prevents BBVA from merging with Sabadell, CEO Genç downplayed the matter in a meeting with investors, since, if the takeover bid is successful, the group would also have control of the Catalan entity.
#Competition #decision #week #BBVAs #takeover #bid #Sabadell
