González-Bueno (Sabadell): "BBVA's takeover bid won't go through because society doesn't want it."

BarcelonaBanco Sabadell CEO César González-Bueno stated that BBVA's takeover bid reached a maximum negative premium of 7.5%. This means that shareholders would be better off selling their shares now on the market than accepting the Basque bank's offer. The deal will not go through "because society doesn't want it," he added.

At an event organized by The Newspaper In Barcelona, ​​​​the CEO of the Catalan bank predicted that "under no circumstances" will the operation "go beyond October 1st," although he acknowledged that in previous predictions he said it would end in June or July and was wrong. And, regarding the offer, he assured that if it seemed insufficient a year ago, it is even more so today.

Likewise, the executive considered that the best thing for shareholders "is to continue alone," because Sabadell has appreciated 72% since the presentation of the takeover bid in May of last year, while BBVA has appreciated 30% and was the one that rose the least this year. Furthermore, the stock has multiplied by nine in four years and BBVA's, by four.

He also referred to the loyalty of customers and shareholders to the bank and to the fact that his team is "very clear about its objective: to be the best bank in Spain." As on other occasions, he argued that all mergers of entities other than the three largest banks in Spain (BBVA, Santander, and CaixaBank) would make sense because they do not overlap geographically and would only marginally affect competition.

Once the decision on the merger is in the hands of the government, which must make a statement before the 27th of this month, he stated that the policy has reflected the "social rejection" generated by the operation. The operation will not go through because "it is not good for the shareholders nor is it good for the country," he insisted.