Sabadell's González-Bueno: "The sale of TSB has nothing to do with the takeover bid."

SantanderBanc Sabadell has disassociated the possible sale of its British subsidiary TSB from the hostile takeover process it is currently undergoing. "With absolute certainty, the decision regarding TSB will be made completely independently of the takeover bid [...]. The sale of TSB will only be made if it creates value for Sabadell shareholders," said the bank's CEO, César González-Bueno, this Wednesday during his participation in the summer course organized by the Menéndez Pelayo Period Association, which is sponsored by BBVA itself. Last year, González-Bueno did not attend these sessions because BBVA had been launching its takeover bid less than two months before, and Sabadell was very cautious in its public statements.

González-Bueno also ruled out the possibility that this possible move was a "poison pill," that is, one that seeks to destroy Sabadell's value so that another offer, in this case the BBVA takeover bid, would be derailed. Just over a week ago, Sabadell confirmed that it had received offers for the British subsidiary it bought in 2015. The announcement, along with the Spanish government's decision to toughen the terms of the takeover bid, has strained the operationInitially, this would mean divesting a significant portion of Sabadell's business (around 17%), and BBVA would therefore be a smaller bank. It also placed the obligation of passivity under scrutiny (the Valles-based bank cannot do anything extraordinary that could derail the success of the transaction). In this regard, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) is already investigating the matter and, so far, has not detected any anomalies.

However, the CEO has announced that Sabadell's decision on TSB will be known before July 24, coinciding with the presentation of its strategic plan for the period 2027-2030, as reported by the bank this Wednesday. In fact, according to the Financial TimesSabadell can receive non-binding offers until this Friday, although financial sources indicate that potential buyers, including Banco Santander, have already been narrowed down. González-Bueno also stated that they will only sell this business if the price offered is higher than the market price. In 2015, Sabadell bought the British bank for €2.3 billion (£1.7 billion). The other question is what the bank will do with the money it may obtain from the sale. "No decision has been made on how we would use these funds [...], it would probably be one of the announcements on July 24th," the executive indicated. The offer will be reviewed by the board of directors, which, if deemed viable and if the takeover bid has not been finalized, will submit it to the shareholders' meeting.

He urges BBVA to reconsider the takeover bid.

Hours after the Spanish government added conditions to the takeover bid (that a potential merger cannot be carried out for at least three years), the CEO urged BBVA to consider "whether it's worth going ahead [with the takeover] and under what conditions." In the bank's view, the government's decision does affect the €850 million in synergies proposed by BBVA, especially because many of the things planned to achieve the savings, such as layoffs, would not be possible to do from the outset. The executive also asserted that "the market is interpreting that the probabilities [of the takeover going ahead] have decreased" and has detected a "change in BBVA's rhetoric," which he links precisely to the decline in these probabilities. In fact, Sabadell clings to this pessimism to argue that the good performance of its stock market listing is not the result of the takeover bid, but of the business. Finally, he declined to comment on the Spanish government's decision, although he acknowledged that it was not a "simple" step, and even expressed regret for having been so belligerent with the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNVM).