Sabadell question the government for the first time and points out that “they have arguments” to intervene in the BBVA OPA

In the traditional meeting of the Catalan Bank dome with media before the Board of Shareholders, the President Josep Oliu He has sent what becomes a message to Pedro Sánchez’s executive for his participation in the process. Asked if he believes that the government has arguments to set hard conditions to the operation, the manager has been clear: «Arguments has. The arguments that I have counting can be for a government. The Government has to ensure the balance of the country’s financial system and put the framework for the market for the market forces.

The leader has appealed to the Executive think «If this is an operation that suits the country or notfor different reasons; for growth, for credit, for competition, by SMEs, for the territorial balance … ».

Among those arguments, for example, there may be issues of territorial cohesion, as the Executive Chief, Pedro Sánchez, has once wielded due to the damage that could be caused in regions such as Catalonia or Valencian Community. And there is also the argument of national security, which “maybe the merger is a danger to national security,” as Oliu said.

The CEO, César González-Buenohas also referred to that hope in phase three that can be understood that the Sabadell slides that it has, after a two phase in which they expect competition not to set hard conditions. The CEO has complained that it seems that the CNMC “has already made its decision and has done so without us having knowledge and without our knowledge having been the market test that we expected because there is truly a problem of competition that is not solved with the measures that have been published.” With these measures it refers to temporary conditions of behavior for the BBVA and non -structural, such as unraveling part of the SME business which is what Sabadell asked.

In this sense, González-Well has insisted on the problem that is generated from competition when moving from four competitors for SMEs in Spain to only three, an argument that has practically repeated since the launch of the operation in May last year. Although he has not expressly mentioned the Government, he has indicated that this “It is a subject of common good, someone should establish minimal conditions for that to be preserved”. And if, as they understand, the supposed decision of competence does not preserve these market conditions, only the government intervention remains in the inkwell.

Transparency

Both managers have stressed that they will ensure that shareholders have the maximum possible information to make a decision if the opening time of the OPA acceptance period occurs, that the BBVA calculates that it could occur before July. And in that framework of transparency, Josep Oliu has been clear about an important point of the operation that the government has not yet put black over white: the subsequent fusion if the OPA triumphs.

In case of the OPA, BBVA’s intention is to merge both entities. But in that specific decision the Executive has the capacity to veto it. And although the government has been contrary to the set of operation, they have not become crystalline about whether or not they would prohibit the union leaving the Basque Bank with two entities under its control but separated. «The government would have to be clear in phase three of the CNMC on its intentions Regarding whether or not there is a fusion. And in case it did not allow fusion, what conditions of corporate governance could there be to not reduce the competition, ”said OLIU.

Also, the bank insists that there is no price, there is no value, in an operation like this. And they are knowing that much of the OPA’s future will be decided by large investors, institutional investors, such as Blackrock. González-Buenos, on the position of these investors, has transmitted the message that “in the current price, most institutional investors do not see the operation. That is what they have told us ». For different reasons, that go, according to him, from the fundamentals of the bank, to dividends; In addition, he stressed that these investors consider that the bank is still cheap despite the huge rise in the stock market. «They consider that there is a very good story behind, that the numbers are very good, that the progression is very good. In this price there is no cousin for the acquisition, ”he added.

The importance of the bank

Likewise, the CEO has repeated several general messages about the importance of the bank surviving and not dying in the entrails of BBVA. «It’s not good, it’s not good for SpainIt is not good for SMEs, it is not good for customers. It is not good for shareholders and therefore it is an operation that does not make much sense and that we consider that it will not come out, ”he said, to add that it seems that BBVA himself has doubts about the subsequent fusion.

In similar terms Oliu has pronounced: “In the Spanish financial system, Banco Sabadell plays a very important role and in the future of the Spanish financial system the Sabadell plays and will play an important role.” A message that is expected to emphasize before your shareholders at the Board on March 20. This will be the first board to be held in Sabadell after his return to Catalonia. Until now they had been celebrating in Alicante, where they moved by the ‘process’. And an emotional board seems like, both for the return to the Autonomous Community and for the feelings generated by the OPA.