Oliu on the BBVA takeover bid: "The dance hasn't even begun yet."
The bank's president rejects the transaction in front of shareholders and is convinced that the Basque bank will improve its offer.
BarcelonaBBVA's takeover bid still has a long way to go. "The dance hasn't even begun yet," said the chairman of Banc Sabadell during a meeting with shareholders. Along with his CEO, César González-Bueno, during a meeting that lasted more than an hour, Oliu expressed his conviction that the bank chaired by Carlos Torres Vila, despite having repeatedly denied it, will improve its offer for Sabadell. The operation is now on the table of the Spanish government, which must decide whether to introduce any obstacles related to the general interest, as the part related to free competition was already endorsed by the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) on April 30.
"The current conditions will probably not be the final ones. We'll see, and then you [the shareholders] will have to decide." BBVA can modify the offer up to five days before the end of the acceptance period. The chairman of Sabadell has insisted that the Vallesan bank has good prospects if it continues on its own, and reiterated that they were right to reject both the 2020 takeover bid and the current one. Continuing with the dance analogy, Oliu explained that everything will begin with the start of the takeover acceptance period, which will be when the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) approves the takeover prospectus.
He also acknowledged to shareholders that the bank has received "expressions of interest" from potential buyers for its British subsidiary, TSB. If any of these become a formal offer, the board of directors has the obligation to study it, "both within the framework of the takeover bid and without a takeover bid." And, for the duty of passivity During a transaction of this type, it should also go through the shareholders' meeting.
Both the chairman and the CEO have insisted that Sabadell has appreciated more than BBVA in the last year and that its shareholders have earned 1.96 times more than those of the Basque-based bank between dividends and share buybacks, and that the shares have grown more. They also emphasized that shareholder remuneration will be "at least" the same as in 2024, at around €1.3 billion.
