Oliu (Sabadell): "BBVA's offer is even worse than the one from May 2024."
The president of the Catalan bank criticizes the proposal from the Basque-based entity because he believes it undervalues the value of the entity alone.
BarcelonaFrom Banc Sabadell they don't see things as from BBVA, which this Friday received authorization in the prospectus for the takeover bid for the Catalan bank. The president of the Valles-based entity, Josep Oliu, has stated that BBVA's offer "is even worse than the one already assessed by the board of directors in May 2024." In his opinion, the proposal already "undervalued" Sabadell's solo project. The board of the Catalan bank has ten days to issue an assessment of the offer once the takeover acceptance period begins next Monday.
At the same time, Oliu noted that Sabadell's shares have appreciated more and it has remunerated its shareholders more than BBVA in the last sixteen months, since it announced its intentions. Sabadell shareholders will have until October 7 to decide whether or not to participate in the takeover bid. An important factor is that since last January, the Catalan bank's shares have been trading above the price offered by BBVA.
Oliu highlights that Sabadell is the bank "with the best stock market performance in the last five years in Europe and with an excellent outlook for shareholder returns." According to the president of Sabadell, the Catalan bank's shares have increased their value by 108% since May 2024, when BBVA announced its takeover bid. In contrast, during the same period, the shares of the Basque bank have increased by 55%, he explained.
The CEO of the Catalan bank, César González-Bueno, found in the proposal presented "even more deficiencies and omissions in the numbers and assumptions than in the previous version." One of the possibilities they raise is that BBVA could take less than 50.01%, the threshold it established to go ahead with the operation. This possibility, included in documentation sent to the US securities regulator, the SEC, "does not seem to reflect great confidence in the attractiveness of its offer." Directa has stated: "I don't think our shareholders will like it."
"Unrealistic hypotheses"
"It seems like a poor offer, laden with unrealistic assumptions, but they will have to be analyzed in more detail," stated Sabadell's CEO. He assured that the board of directors "will analyze the offer in depth and issue a reasoned assessment of what is most beneficial for its shareholders." Oliu insisted that it is important for shareholders to know that "if they accept BBVA's offer, today they will lose more than 8%, they will stop receiving the extraordinary dividend of 50 cents that will be paid in early 2026, when the sale of the British subsidiary TSB closes; and they will have to pay taxes in the vast majority of cases; they will receive less cash than they will have to pay to the Treasury."
Sabadell "fully trusts in the attractiveness of its solo project based on the new 2025-2027 strategic plan," he concluded. The roadmap calls for a profit of €1.6 billion this year and shareholder returns of €6 billion.