The best tennis players gather once again at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona for the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell - Trofeo Conde de Godó. This new edition will continue to bear the name of Banc Sabadell as the main sponsor after the bank renewed its agreement with the tournament organizers for three more seasons. With the renewal of this partnership, Banc Sabadell will celebrate 20 years as the tournament's main sponsor once this new period, which is renewable for another year, has concluded.

The César González-Bueno's resignation His appointment as CEO of Banc Sabadell, just after successfully avoiding a takeover bid from BBVA, took everyone by surprise. "It was now or in a year, and now was a good time because nobody expected it; therefore, we left no room for speculation," the executive said, satisfied, at a press conference this Friday. This change has marked the week of executive reshuffles, but Desigual is also losing one of its key figures, and Deloitte Spain will have a new president in June. These are the most notable appointments of the week:

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.

Amid other changes at the top – such as the departure of its maverick advisor, David Martínez Guzmán – Banc Sabadell has also replaced the head of its Mexican subsidiary. In the business sector, Pimec has added a new member to its board of directors, while Barcelona has secured a seat on the World Trade Centers International Association for its office complex located in the Port of Barcelona. These are the main appointments this week:

The Mexican investorDavid Martínez Guzmán,The third largest shareholder and largest individual shareholder of Banco Sabadell, with 3.86% of the capital, has resigned as a board member, the bank announced in a statement to the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). In his letter, Martínez Guzmán stated that during his 12 years on the board of the Catalan bank, he had witnessed a transformation of the institution. He also expressed his deep gratitude for the resounding success achieved by the chairman and the bank's teams.

The president of Banc Sabadell, Josep Oliu, defended the existence of regional banks like his institution in Europe. "A company's size doesn't necessarily make it more competitive," he added, after recalling the shareholders' rejection of BBVA's takeover bid, which, in his view, was an "exercise in pragmatism and rationality." During his closing address at the 30th Economists' Conference in Barcelona, ​​he stated that the shareholders "weren't swayed solely by messages like 'a company is more competitive simply because it's larger.' This isn't necessarily the case." And he added: "They can be large or small, it depends on the business they focus on." Throughout his speech, he insisted that "competitiveness is not only measured by size." The path the administration should follow, he said, "is not to force company sizes but to facilitate frameworks so that the market functions efficiently." He admitted that BBVA's takeover bid has left many questions unanswered, both regarding banking regulation and the assessments made by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) on free competition in the SME market, as well as the takeover law. "We need solvent and efficient banks capable of providing services to businesses," he stated. And in this context, where there is talk of creating large European banks, he clarified that "it's not just about creating pan-European banks, since the broader their focus, the more difficult it is for them to be competitive at a global level." local. In the future, he added, there must be large European entities but also regional ones, which solve problems at the local level.

The BBVA-Banc Sabadell case has opened the door to exploring the limits of the laws that have come into play throughout the hostile takeover bid, one of the most media-covered and politicized in recent years, which ultimately derailed. Consequently, the need, or lack thereof, to review and update some of the regulations has been on the table, the content of which has been at one point or another a key issue during these seventeen months that marked the outcome. The Competition Law and the Takeover Law have been placed in the spotlight. Had a merger between BBVA and Banc Sabadell been successful, the banking law, which leaves it up to the Spanish government to authorize or reject a merger, would also have come into play.

"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.

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).

"This is how we build a country," the Minister of the Presidency declared immediately after the news of the failure of BBVA's takeover bid for Sabadell was made public. Undoubtedly, the outcome is positive for Catalonia, and politics has undoubtedly also had a lot to do with it.

"We accept the result and close this chapter." BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres spoke out the day after learning of the failure of the takeover bid for Banc Sabadell. has not reached the minimum of 30% acceptanceThe setback has been a cold shower for the Bilbao-based bank, which hadn't expected to have such a low quorum. In fact, analysts had assumed an acceptance rate of at least 30%, and a second takeover bid was a given; even Banc Sabadell's chairman, Josep Oliu, assured this morning that they did not expect "such a resounding result."

"It's been a long time since I've received so many happy messages. Even if it was Christmas or my birthday," explains Joaquim, a lifelong Banc Sabadell shareholder. This Thursday, as the sun was setting and It was officially announced that BBVA's takeover bid for Sabadell had failed, Many Sabadell residents celebrated. "I'm really happy," said Maria, a retiree who admits she's gotten a little fed up with the TV and radio announcements. "I've never fully understood the takeover bid, but since we already lost Caixa de Sabadell, I don't want to lose the bank now," says the daughter of a former bank employee.

The financial intrigue series has ended. After a battle that lasted almost a year and a half, there will be no third season. Only 25.47% of Banco Sabadell's share capital participated in BBVA's hostile takeover bid, according to a statement from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). This means that the Basque bank's offer has been derailed after falling short of the 30% mark, which was the minimum the bank chaired by Carlos Torres needed if it wanted to gain control of Sabadell. This is the second time Torres has tried to integrate the Catalan bank into BBVA's structure and failed. The hostile takeover bid enjoyed a rare unanimous opposition, which has included the Catalan government, large and small employers' associations, unions, small investors, and public opinion. In fact, the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, has salvaged an undesirable situation, one for which he had counted on the support of the Spanish government, with the conditions imposed on the operation by the Minister of Economy.

The outcome of BBVA's takeover bid for Banc Sabadell, which has resulted in bankruptcy because it has not reached the minimum requirement of 30%, it has taken everyone by surprise. And it hasn't been because of the result, since nobody was entirely sure what would happen, but because it was published late on Thursday, a day ahead of schedule. Be that as it may, in the last few hours there have been a flurry of political and business reactions to the news.

"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.

The end of the banking battle of the year. Only 25.33% of the share capital and, consequently, 25.47% of the voting rights of Banc Sabadell participated in BBVA's hostile takeover bid, according to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on Thursday night. This means that the Basque bank's offer has been derailed (30% was the minimum that the bank chaired by Carlos Torres could assume if it wanted to gain control of Sabadell). This concludes a battle that has lasted almost a year and a half, and the Catalan bank will continue on its own.

Banco Sabadell has released initial figures on BBVA's hostile takeover bid: 97.2% of the Catalan bank's shareholders rejected the Basque bank's takeover bid, and those who accepted, 2.8%, represent only 1.1% of the group's capital, according to a report released Tuesday by the CNMV (National Securities Market Commission). These shareholders represent a total of 30.8% of the Valles-based bank's capital. At market open, both BBVA and Sabadell were down more than 0.5% on the stock market; at the close of trading, however, BBVA closed up 0.72% and Sabadell down 1.09%. The final figures on the bank's shareholders' assessment of BBVA's takeover bid will be announced by the CNMV on October 17.

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.

There is a scenario that began to gain traction when BBVA opened the door to waiving the minimum acceptance condition for the hostile takeover bid for Banc Sabadell, set at 50.01% of the Valles-based bank's capital. This is the possibility of a second mandatory takeover bid, although BBVA has initially ruled it out.

Zurich Insurance, the second largest shareholder in Banc Sabadell with nearly 5% of the share capital, has expressed its intention not to participate in the hostile takeover bid launched by BBVA, according to Bloomberg.. "The current takeover bid is not an attractive proposition for Sabadell shareholders beyond the company's prospects alone," a spokesperson for the insurer told Bloomberg.