The decision of the Sabadell bosses to return the headquarters to Catalonia has been hailed as strategic genius, but in reality it is a sign of great weakness. There is no evidence that return was a priority among shareholders (where … Are the letters to the board asking for it?) not even among the clients and the decision totally politicizes the BBVA takeover bid. The political profile of the decision was even more evident when, the day after ABC reported the news, a majority of large companies that had to leave Catalonia due to the independence fever, reiterated that it is not yet time to return. All this makes us think that Oliú and González-Bueno They have pressed the nuclear button in desperation, a movement out of step with the line of defense that they had proposed until now and that was based on the benefits of their own path. This strategy aroused the sympathy of many, especially given the possibility of the loss of pluralism among Spanish banking projects.
But the lack of belligerence that BBVA, responsible for the takeover bid, has shown regarding these arguments has also drawn attention. He has neither questioned the decision as undue interference, nor has he fought it argumentatively. The reason is that discussing this can be counterproductive before the competition authorities, because, according to many parameters, the second bank in Catalonia is precisely BBVA. In 2012, it acquired Unnim, and between 2014 and 2015, it completed the purchase of Catalunya Banc. These operations allowed it to achieve a market share close to 25% in the region and add approximately 2.6 million clients.
Although this share has decreased since then, the CNMC has said that if the takeover goes ahead, BBVA and Sabadell will exceed 30% of the retail market in Catalonia and the Basque Country. In terms of credit granted, deposit taking or business investment, BBVA is one of the main entities in Catalonia, especially due to its focus on companies and SMEs. In this last segment I would be around with Sabadell. But BBVA believes that this is the time to appease the competition authorities and not to win the hearts of Catalans, despite the fact that in October of last year, andThe president of the entity, Carlos Torresproclaimed that the entity was “the bank that has invested the most in Catalonia in the last decade” and that it has ended up integrating “six of the former ten Catalan savings banks.”
Sabadell’s decision is not intended to convince shareholders. In fact, most investment funds will decide based on factors such as the price or the project that BBVA can develop, not by where its headquarters are located. What Sabadell’s decision is about is ingratiating itself with the political power that is now the only one that can stop the operation. [email protected]
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