Calculations and monsters

The final hand of the BBVA takeover bid for Sabadell has already quietly begun to be played in the pockets of several thousand Catalans, and now that there are only four weeks left until we find out how the story ends, BBVA chairman Carlos Torres continues his tireless communications policy in Catalonia. It's only natural: this is the second time he's attempted a merger, and these types of contests always end up with a component of personal success or failure, which in this case also affects Josep Oliu, as the head of the opposing party, and which forces him to pour everything into the pot.

In the interview we published this Monday, Torres defended himself against the argument that the offer was low, citing the fact that the takeover bid was precisely what had caused the Catalan bank's shares to rise much more than Spanish and European banks in general had risen in the same period. He then intended to shoot up the possibility that Sabadell shares could fall.

Since this is about money, major investors will surely decide whether to participate in the share exchange purely based on their rational interest, which has little to do with Catalan or Spanish identities (as was proven in October 2017), but among Catalan retailers, things are different. The monster's publicity resonated much deeper than just the wallet, not only among shareholders but also with a large part of society, not to mention the incentive to maintain their own brand and avoid further bank concentration, which usually penalizes competitors to the detriment of customers. Like so many other things in our country, this is turning out to be more than just a takeover bid.