American personal care products manufacturer Kimberly-Clark, owner of brands such as Kleenex and Scottex, has reached an agreement to acquire Kenvue, also American, which controls brands such as Listerine and Neutrogena, valuing it at $48.7 billion (approximately €42.2 billion). According to the agreement, unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, each share of Kenvue will be exchanged for 0.146 shares of Kimberly-Clark and $3.50 in cash, representing a total price of $21.01 per share at closing. The transaction, one of the largest ever recorded globally in the consumer goods sector, is expected to close in the second quarter of next year, according to the planned schedule.

The business and political storm that ensued from the hostile takeover bid by Gas Natural (now Naturgy) for Endesa led to an update of the takeover bid law in 2007. Almost twenty years later, and as a result of a new storm—BBVA's hostile takeover bid for Banc Sabadell—this regulatory framework is back in the spotlight. For days, various voices have been speaking out about the need to revise the law, and this Tuesday, one of the main stakeholders did so: the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), which, as the stock market regulator, has acted as a referee during the process. "We are willing to support the Ministry of Economy if it decides to move forward in this direction [an update of the takeover bid law]," said the president of the agency, Carlos San Basilio, this Tuesday in a media address after his participation in a Deloitte conference.

A global bank, BBVA, with significant subsidiaries in Mexico and Turkey, wants to take control of a deeply rooted bank, Banc Sabadell. These are two very different business models. And a year after the takeover bid (OPA), which was described by the Catalan bank's board of directors as hostile, uncertainties remain. The market is betting that the group chaired by Carlos Torres Vila will ultimately improve the offer, even though he has publicly rejected it. In fact, he can't do anything else, since it's unlikely he'll announce it in advance.

Bankia, the bank that became the symbol of the financial crisis in Spain, will disappear this Friday absorbed by CaixaBank. The entity, created twelve years ago by the merger of seven savings banks, closes a short history marked by scandals, crimes, nationalisation, prison for its first president and the multimillion-dollar losses suffered by its shareholders. Its shares will be traded this Friday for the last time on the Madrid stock exchange.