Sabadell completes the sale of TSB to Santander for €3.3 billion

BarcelonaBanco Sabadell has completed the sale of its British subsidiary TSB to Santander for 3.3 billion euros, as reported by the Vallesana entity this Friday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). Sabadell already had the operation on the table in July. At that time, the CEO of Sabadell, César González-Bueno, conditioned the operation on "whether it creates value for Banco Sabadell shareholders".

The operation has been closed for a cash amount of 2.86 billion pounds (approximately 3.3 billion euros), after receiving all the pertinent authorizations from the supervisory and regulatory bodies. The purchase price was set when agreeing on the transaction at 2.65 billion pounds (approximately 3.05 billion euros), which implies a multiple of 1.5 times its book value, as reported by the Vallesana bank this Friday.

To this amount, as agreed, the tangible net asset value (TNAV) generated by TSB until the closing of the operation has been added, which has reached 213 million pounds (approximately 242 million euros). The operation generates more than 400 basis points of capital for Banco Sabadell and a capital gain slightly higher than 300 million euros after considering all the impacts derived from the operation, which will allow its shareholders to be rewarded with a gross extraordinary cash dividend of 50 euro cents per share on May 29. As the bank chaired by Josep Oliu approved during BBVA's takeover bid, the 50-cent dividend, added to the rest of the dividends the bank will distribute and those planned for share buybacks and redemptions, the total remuneration to shareholders will amount to approximately 6.45 billion euros between 2025 and 2027. 

The CEO of Banco Sabadell, César González-Bueno, has highlighted that it is “a great attractive operation for all parties". The executive has stressed that the sale, agreed during BBVA's failed takeover bid for Sabadell, occurs "at an opportune moment, allowing for an extraordinary dividend of 50 cents per share to be paid and focusing the bank's strategy on Spain, our natural market”. For his part, the until now CEO of TSB and future CEO of Banco Sabadell, Marc Armengol, has highlighted that “we have closed a very relevant operation for the British financial sector" and added that "TSB is today a success story in the United Kingdom thanks to the excellent work carried out by the entire team in recent years”.

600 M€ in dividends in 10 years

Banco Sabadell acquired the British entity specializing in the mortgage business in 2015 at book value for an amount of 1.7 billion pounds. Since then, it has increased its credit book from 26.4 billion to 36.3 billion pounds at the close of 2025, while improving its efficiency ratio from 80% to 66% and increasing its profitability (ROTE) from 5.3% to 12.6%, according to the Catalan bank. Thanks to this, Banco Sabadell has received more than 600 million euros in dividends from its subsidiary in this decade.

With this operation, Sabadell, which now wants to focus on the Spanish market, has committed to Banco Santander not to compete in the British market for the next 24 months. However, the bank chaired by Josep Oliu will maintain the branch it has in the United Kingdom, with which it supports companies in their international business, and will also be able to continue operating in this market through the corporate banking division (CIB).