Madrid (AFP) – Spanish banking giant BBVA raised its takeover offer for Sabadell on Monday as it seeks to lure its smaller rival’s shareholders before the October 7 deadline to accept its hostile bid. The announcement came 10 days after Sabadell’s board urged shareholders to reject BBVA’s attempt to create a new European banking colossus, saying the bid undervalues the company.
BBVA said in a statement on Monday that it was raising the offer to Sabadell shareholders by 10 percent to 3.39 euros per share. The new offer values Sabadell at 19.5 billion euros ($22.9 billion). BBVA said it would not make further improvements to the bid or extend the deadline for shareholders to accept it. “With this improved offer, we are putting an extraordinary proposal in the hands of Banco Sabadell shareholders,” BBVA chairman Carlos Torres Vila said in the statement.
Sabadell’s leadership has consistently rejected BBVA’s advances in its determination to maintain the independence of Spain’s fourth-largest bank. Chief executive Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno told Onda Cero radio on Monday that the new offer was “very weak” and “even worse,” pointing to Sabadell’s rising stock market valuation since the bid was launched.
The proposed deal aims to create a European banking powerhouse capable of competing with industry heavyweights such as Santander, BNP Paribas, and HSBC. Founded in 1881 near Barcelona, Sabadell has a dispersed ownership structure. No investor holds more than seven percent of the bank, making the outcome of the takeover bid uncertain.
BBVA, Spain’s second-largest bank with a large footprint in Latin America and Turkey, announced its all-share bid in May 2024. The tender offer was launched on September 8 with a 30-day window that closes on October 7.
© 2024 AFP
