For Banc Sabadell, 2025 was a year marked by BBVA's takeover bid, which ultimately failed for the Basque bank. However, during the year, the bank, chaired by Josep Oliu and still headed by CEO César González-Bueno –He announced his retirement this Thursday and will leave his post in May – earned €1.775 billion, slightly less than the previous year (-2.8%), when the figure was €1.827 billion. However, the bank maintains that net profit, excluding extraordinary items, increased by 3.4% compared to the previous year.

On October 16th of last year, the banking episode that had dominated economic headlines for almost a year and a half came to an end: BBVA's hostile takeover bid for Banc Sabadell failed With only 25% acceptance from the second bank's shareholders, the offer was insufficient to move forward or launch a second takeover bid. Catalonia openly applauded the outcome, Sabadell celebrated with a massive party at the Palau Sant Jordi, and BBVA, led by Carlos Torres, accepted defeat. with a message of resignationA few months later, with a new year ahead, how are the two banks approaching 2026 after the takeover bid?

Following the failure of BBVA's takeover bid for Banc Sabadell, Josep Oliu has received widespread acclaim. The latest accolades, including the Businessman of the Year Medal of Honor, were bestowed on Tuesday evening at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (TNC), during the eighteenth Carles Ferrer Salat Awards presented by Fomento del Trabajo. There, the president of the Catalan bank was applauded "for having been the driving force behind this benchmark, with national and international reach," according to the employers' association. Banco Sabadell, in fact, received two awards on this evening of business gatherings: the Medal of Honor for Business Trajectory was awarded to Pedro Fontana, chairman of the board of directors of Areas and also vice-chairman of the board of directors of the Vallès-based bank. Undoubtedly, yet another cry of victory in the face of the failed BBVA takeover bid, which the employers' association chaired by Josep Sánchez Llibre had already openly opposed, and which it has now celebrated with these awards before more than 800 attendees at a packed TNC.

"I think what we didn't do well in this takeover bid was that in the final days we were convinced there would be a second bid because they would exceed 30%, and that didn't happen; therefore, we wasted time for three days," said Josep Oliu, president of Banc Sabadell. the failure of BBVA's takeover bid for the bank he presides over during a conversation at the Prisa group's World in Progress (WIP) conference, held Monday and Tuesday at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya in Barcelona.

I'm still here. Just a few minutes ago, the news broke about the failure of BBVA's offensive against Banco Sabadell—this story is over—and Carlos Torres, the president of the attacking bank, was already on the scene. He was in a hurry. The scale of the defeat, after his hyperbolic campaign, might have made him think that if he took too long to leave, perhaps someone else would offer condolences to those who had trusted him.

The failure of BBVA's takeover bid for Banc Sabadell opens a new scenario for the Catalan financial institution and the Spanish sector. Experts predict future movements in the mid-sized banking sector that could be led by the Vallesan bank, now smaller following the agreement to sell its British subsidiary TSB to Santander, which provides a fifth of its profits. The objective is to strengthen the bank's profile "focused on Spain, one of the countries with the best economic prospects in the European Union," which means "having predictable income and a controlled cost of risk," explained the financial director, Sergi Palavecino, to present the strategic plan until 2027 in July.

The outcome of BBVA's takeover bid for Banc de Sabadell was unexpected, both for analysts and for the presidents of both banks, Carlos Torres and Josep Oliu. It's reminiscent of the failure of José Ángel Sánchez Asiaín, president of Banco de Bilbao, when his hostile takeover bid for Banesto failed in 1987. BBVA only achieved a 25% or so approval rate. It was expected that the takeover bid among Sabadell shareholders would be between 30% and 50%, so BBVA had to consider whether to go ahead, and there was speculation about whether the price would be raised (which had to be "fair" and approved by the CNMV).

BBVA's hostile takeover bid for Sabadell has been an economic battle, but also, and very much so, a political one. Just hours after learning of its failure, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, met this afternoon with the president of the Catalan bank, Josep Oliu, at the Palau de la Generalitat. A clear and forceful gesture that conveys the importance this operation has had for the Government.

A merger attempt marked by its heightened hostility is coming to an end. As citizens, we should rejoice that it didn't serve to increase the country's banking concentration. I don't think shareholders and employees of both necessarily have to think the same. BBVA, a large bank, has seen its strategy and the credibility of its management eroded in the medium term. The exact opposite is true for Sabadell: congratulations to its managers, but it's becoming a very complex task for them, and it's starting now. The opposite will happen to shareholders: despite Sabadell's success, the stock price is expected to suffer in the short term. Its value is falling, inflated by the same expectation of a takeover bid and an extraordinary dividend distribution that must not decapitalize the bank.

The aversion to power is as instinctive and healthy as it is childish and naive. We want to be free individuals, and yet we know that someone must call the shots. Someone must lead. We must somehow organize ourselves collectively. Ideally, we delegate the power to command to the most qualified, right? But now we've settled into a populist critique of intellectual and academic elites: experts are under suspicion. How can this be? The mantra of a general rejection of politicians, of all of them, also dominates. Are they all the same? It's another way of denying power. So, how do we do it? Behind the crisis of democracy, there are these phenomenal confusions that feed on an endemic foundation of libertarian spontaneity—in Catalonia, we have historical experiences—a tendency fueled today by reactionary anti-system forces. The primary rejection of power, always latent, the fruit of a healthy skepticism, is paradoxically leading us headlong into new forms of personalistic and authoritarian government. The phenomenon is global. The Minotaur always floats.

He president of Banc Sabadell, Josep Oliu, has admitted in his first reaction after the failure of the BBVA takeover bid that he hadn't expected "such a resounding result." "It was a big surprise," he told Catalunya Ràdio, adding that he thought the takeover bid would be "over 30%." Oliu said they were aware of the "absolute support" of minority shareholders, but that they had "no evidence" of the overall support there would be for the Vallesan bank's project.

"They offer a poor value, they don't offer a control premium, and the synergies are complicated by the competition measures and those established by the Spanish government. This takeover bid, which was stillborn, only needs to be buried by the shareholders," said Josep Oliu, president of Banc Sabadell, just over a month ago. And now it has been proven that the Catalan banker was right. Josep Oliu will go down in the history of Sabadell—which has a 144-year history—as the man who, along with its CEO, César González-Bueno, managed to halt the onslaught of BBVA. And in the midst of the takeover bid, he also returned the bank's headquarters to Catalonia, which he had moved to Alicante in 2017, following the October 1 referendum.

This is a seventeen-month story. That of BBVA and Banc Sabadell. One of the longest takeover bids in Spain, especially in the banking sector. And unlike usual, it was hostile, as the Catalan bank opposed it from the very beginning. This Friday, the outcome was announced: the takeover failed. Only a quarter of Sabadell's capital had agreed to BBVA's proposal.

Josep Oliu (Sabadell, 1949) has been living for over sixteen months in suspense over BBVA's hostile takeover bid for the bank he chairs. He received the ARA at Sabadell's headquarters in Sant Cugat just two days after BBVA announced a new offer—according to Oliu, "worse"—to Sabadell shareholders. The situation remains pending, first, on the approval of the new offer by the CNMV (Spanish Securities Market Commission), and then on the position of Sabadell's board of directors.

A decisive week has begun for BBVA's takeover bid for Banc Sabadell. After sixteen months of battle and a flurry of appearances by the top executives of both entities, the end is near. Or so it seems. In principle, next Wednesday, September 24th—Feast of the Mercè and a holiday in Barcelona—is the last day on which BBVA can improve its offer, although some place the limit at the 23rd. Be that as it may, the bank chaired by Carlos Torres has so far insisted on maintaining what it offers and He has stated on multiple occasions that he will not change it., although the premium has been negative since January—in recent days it has been marked by volatility. Beyond that date, the calendar remains packed with potential open scenarios.

"It is not mandatory to accept the takeover bid. In fact, the best thing to do is to do nothing, take the paper [of the takeover bid] and throw it in the trash, and you will have fulfilled your duty as a loyal shareholder of Banco Sabadell." This is how the chairman of Banc Sabadell, Josep Oliu, asked his shareholders not to accept BBVA's takeover bid. He did so at a meeting with investors alongside the CEO, César González-Bueno, in which they explained the bank's board's reasons for rejecting the takeover bid. During the meeting, they also took the opportunity to deny the statements made by BBVA chairman Carlos Torres, who said last week that Sabadell's shares would fall if the takeover bid were to fail.: "If there is any fall, it will be short-lived, but little by little the bank will recover its value," said Oliu.

Since BBVA announced a hostile takeover bid for Banc Sabadell on May 9, 2024, the Valles-based bank has been taking steps to derail it, to the point that what initially seemed a plausible operation is now beginning to seem improbable. First, there was the return to Catalonia, then the harsh conditions imposed by the Spanish government on the merger, and this Wednesday, the practically unanimous shareholder approval of the sale of the British bank TSB to Santander for a price that could approach 3.4 billion euros.

On Saturday, Ricard Ustrell interviewed the president of the Bank of Sabadell, Josep Oliu, in the CollapseAs the banker himself explained, he only goes on television "on very special occasions." In fact, he couldn't recall ever having gone. It's easy to guess that the underlying storm of the BBVA takeover bid has prompted this exceptional need, although Oliu cited reasons of geographical coincidence: "I'm from Sabadell. And when they told me Ricard could ask me, who's also from Sabadell, I said I can't refuse him." Oliu liked to recall the past ties between his family and Ustrell's. A delicate way to establish a cordial pact and leave without any damage.

Josep Oliu (Sabadell, 1949) welcomes ARA on Saturday at noon on the 22nd floor of the Torre Sabadell (today Diagonal Vertical), in the heart of Eixample, where he maintains his office as president of the Catalan bank. Given his casual attitude, one would not guess that the century-old bank is suffering a takeover bid from BBVA, which could put an end to its history and that it is entering its decisive phase. Oliu is optimistic and displays his proverbial good humor: of the Jaume Plensa sculpture he has, a true work of art, he says "the doll, the doll of the burning".