Carlos Torres (BBVA): "We will maintain the Sabadell brand as long as it takes."

BarcelonaBBVA Chairman Carlos Torres stated this Friday that, if his bank's takeover bid for Banc Sabadell is successful, he will maintain the Catalan bank's brand "as long as necessary." Torres also insisted that he has no plans to improve on the offer published in the transaction prospectus, although at this time it would result in losses for Sabadell shareholders.

Torres reiterated that BBVA's plan, if the takeover bid is ultimately successful, is to maintain "a decision-making center" in Sant Cugat del Vallès and continue using the Sabadell brand. "For how long? As long as it takes," he stated in an interview on RAC1. "We're going to maintain the brand for as long as it makes sense," he added, without specifying how long that might be.

BBVA already ended up absorbing up to six Catalan savings banks (those of Catalonia, Tarragona, Manresa, Sabadell, Terrassa and Manlleu) during the years of the real estate and financial crisis of the 2010s. All of them ended up losing their respective brands in favor of that of the bank of Basque origin, but it is nothing comparable with the integration of the savings banks," he said, since -in his opinion- they were financial entities that were going through "a delicate financial situation." "We came to the rescue," he emphasized.

According to Torres, the current takeover bid "has nothing to do" with those absorptions. "We are uniting two banks, we want to build on the strengths of Sabadell," he explained.

The president understands the doubts of Catalan employers and civil society about the operation, but has insisted that his bank will be committed to "territorial balance." Likewise, he has The unions' predictions of layoffs and staff reductions if the merger between the two entities goes ahead are described as exaggerated.

There will be no improvements in the offer

Regarding the offer, Torres has said again that he does not contemplate an improvement of the conditions that were announced a year ago, when BBVA's intention to buy Sabadell was made public, something that several analysts had pointed out"I understand there is speculation that there may be an improvement" in the offer, because it is "common" in many hostile transactions, said the BBVA president, but at the same time he noted that this transaction "is not a routine process because it was born as a friendly transaction."

BBVA is offering Sabadell shareholders one new BBVA share in exchange for 5.3456 shares in the Catalan bank, with a complementary payment of 0.7 euros, a proposal that Torres has described as "tremendously attractive." According to the president of the Biscayan bank, this offer represents a 30% premium on Sabadell's share price at the time of publication, in May of last year, although the reality is that, after a year of fluctuations in the market of both entities, this premium is currently negative for Sabadell shareholders.

Torres has said that Sabadell shares have evolved in parallel with those of BBVA with a correlation of 92% since the takeover bid was announced, which demonstrates - he stated - that the markets indicate that the operation will end up taking place. Sabadell, on the other hand, insists that has "derailed""We've been offering shareholders a minimum price for a year. What would happen to Sabadell's stock price if that offer didn't exist?" he asked.