At Banco Sabadell they celebrate the news that the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has decided to extend its analysis of BBVA’s takeover bid to phase two. They consider that extending deadlines will help provide more clarity about the operation, but they also highlight an underlying message that shareholders are telling them that the offer is not enough.
César González-Bueno, CEO of Banco Sabadell, has indicated that the institutional shareholders, who are the large ones and those who will ultimately decide the future of the takeover bid, will not make a decision until they have all the information available, such as the verdict of Competition, but he does highlight that “the feeling they have is that today there is no price, there is no premium, there is no value.” Some words that he pronounced in the 31st Financial Sector Meeting organized by ABC and Deloitte.
However, BBVA has repeatedly stated that there is no room for them to improve the offer to buy the Catalan bank. Furthermore, in this same forum the Basque entity has indicated that they will withdraw the takeover bid if the CNMC ends up imposing conditions that are too harsh.
The scenario that now opens for the takeover bid is different, since the CNMC extends its analysis for a few more months and will give hearings to many more actors who want to intervene. “There are many groups that want to be heard and wanted to appear,” said the CEO, adding that they have already appeared in the procedure this morning to provide all the information they deem appropriate against the takeover.
Apart from Sabadell itself, BBVA also has the possibility of being heard, as do employers’ associations, consumer associations, autonomous communities… Also the Government of Pedro Sánchez will be able to intervene in the process, with even more capacity since it will be able to increase the conditions that the CNMC ends up imposing.
This decision by Competition to extend the analysis to phase two, in the opinion of the manager, means “helping to clarify, to put all things on the table.” In this sense, it has demanded light and stenographers in the process, specifically to make it clear what would happen if in the final part of the operation BBVA could not merge both entities.
González-Bueno has also focused on the fact that “since this started, the joint value of the two entities has been reduced by 9,000 million, which is the equivalent of the value of Banco Sabadell.” And he highlighted that “customers prefer that Banco Sabadell continue to exist.”
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