The Catalan small and medium-sized business association Pimec has filed an appeal this week with the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) for the entity’s refusal to appear as affected in BBVA’s takeover bid for Banc Sabadell. The regulatory body rejected all requests in mid-December and it is expected that more resources such as that of the business association will arrive in the coming days.
In a statement made public this Wednesday, the employers’ association chaired by Antoni Cañete stated that she has the right to be informed of the procedure “to defend the interests of SMEs”. In addition, it said it wants to “guarantee that the negative effects of the operation are adequately mitigated,” since a merger would reduce credit options for its members.
According to their calculations, the success of the takeover bid could mean a reduction of 8% in the availability of credit, around 54,000 million in loans. For this reason, he defended that the opinion of businessmen is “highly relevant.”
In Catalonia, furthermore, the impact in terms of competition would also be noticeable in the number of bank branches. Between Caixabank and the entity resulting from the merger, they would add up to 73.7% of the establishments.
For both reasons, Pimec reaffirmed that it is against the purchase.
The CNMC rejected the requests
The employer’s appeal to appear in phase II of the study comes after the CNMC shot down all requests like theirs in mid-December. The refusal reached all 79 organizations and associations that have presented themselves, with the sole exception of Banc Sabadell itself.
The reason shared with the applicants is that it is not enough to have a general interest in the operation, but rather a legitimate interest linked to the analysis of the concentration from a competition defense point of view is required.
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