González-Bueno insists that BBVA's offer is "bad" despite the improved price.
Both banks are listed on the stock market after the new offer.
BarcelonaBanco Sabadell CEO César González-Bueno has made his first reaction to the improvement of BBVA's offer by the Vallesan entity in the program More than one Onda Cero this Monday morning, in which he asserted that the new offer is "bad" and, in fact, "worse than the first" they made them.
"The offer is bad because it's even worse than the original one they made us. It was 16.2% [of the combined entity for Sabadell shareholders] and now it's 15.3%," he asserted, attributing this to Sabadell's share buybacks. "They're offering us the same amount for the shares, but now there's less," González-Bueno said on Onda Cero.
The executive also stated that since BBVA's first approach to Sabadell, when a friendly merger was attempted in the fall of 2020, the Catalan bank has appreciated by 1,000%, and since the announcement of the takeover bid a year and a half ago, by around 80%.
The stock market reacts
The initial investor reaction was seen at the market's opening on Monday, an hour after the news broke. Sabadell began the day with losses of over 4%, and BBVA was also down more than 1%. Around 10:00 a.m., Sabadell softened its fall to 3.5%, and BBVA fell 2%.
Overall, this move by the Basque bank reduces the premium, which until Friday's close was negative by 7.64%. Now, however, with this new scenario, in which BBVA is offering an exchange of one share of the Basque bank for every 4.83 Sabadell shares, and there is no longer any cash, everything remains pending until the market closes this afternoon.
According to BBVA, the fact that the entire proposal is now in the form of shares allows Sabadell shareholders residing in Spain to avoid paying capital gains tax to the Treasury if the Basque-based entity reaches more than 50% of the Catalan bank's capital. In fact, the tax hit was one of the arguments Sabadell used to defend itself against the takeover bid, in which it warned that it could mean that shareholders who participated in the exchange would have to pay more than the capital gains obtained.
In response, González-Bueno reminded Onda Cero that "this is relative," because there will only be tax neutrality "if BBVA reaches 50%," and not if they remain between 30% and 50%. "They know they're not going to get there," stated the Sabadell CEO, who has tried to convince his shareholders that it is best to "wait." "It doesn't make sense to go through with the first takeover bid," he repeated. "I wouldn't go through with the takeover bid under any circumstances," and he made it clear that he has no plans to sell his shares. "Nobody should expect to see me do it. No means no," he concluded.
