The president of Sabadell assaults BBVA’s takeover bid in London: “Consolidation does not always create added value for shareholders” | Economy | EUROtoday

The president of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, has chosen London, one of many essential monetary capitals of the world, to clarify in a troublesome, however not aggressive speech, learn in English, the the explanation why, in accordance with him, the hostile takeover that The BBVA has launched on the Catalan entity affords “serious doubts about the value that it supposedly intends to create” and “it will have a particularly negative impact on the small and medium-sized business segment.”

Oliu was the visitor of honor on the XIII Gala Dinner held this Monday by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce within the United Kingdom (CCERU), which was attended by greater than 350 representatives of the British enterprise, monetary and social sectors. Spaniards, in addition to members of the brand new Labor Party Government, who participated within the occasion for the primary time.

“Spain continues to be the seventh largest investor in the United Kingdom, and this country is our second investment destination,” mentioned the president of the CCERU, Eduardo Barrachina, who, when welcoming Oliu, identified the duty of his establishment in “ help rebuild trust” in an “era of conflict and fragmentation.”

Although from the primary second he has had the help of Pedro Sánchez’s Executive and lots of Catalan establishments in his rejection of BBVA’s buy supply, Oliu has used a platform as related as London to attempt to unravel the explanations for that refusal.

In the identical method that banking consolidation is defensible and even vital inside the EU framework, he defended, “consolidation is not always good, nor does it always create added value for shareholders.”

“The loss of the bank’s identity, the fact that a company that creates value in a successful way and that has a management team as motivated as Sabadell’s is dismantled, will have an inevitable impact on its client base and future dynamics. of your business,” Oliu warned.

The forces towards the hostile takeover

The approval of the takeover bid by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) could also be delayed till nicely into 2025, and through all these months (5, because the supply was launched on May 9) the High dividends distributed by each firms have narrowed the change equation that was on the desk. At present costs, BBVA’s supply represents a premium of round 3%, removed from the enticing 30% that was introduced on the day of the announcement.

Oliu is aware of that, on this battle, time is in his favor. And it additionally has allies which might be too highly effective to go unnoticed by worldwide buyers.

“Business associations and Chambers of Commerce throughout Spain have openly expressed their opposition to an operation that they consider negative for both credit and competition in the small and medium-sized business market. The Government of Spain has declared itself against the agreement on repeated occasions,” Oliu insisted in his speech. “With the aversion of both the Executive and the clients to this operation,” he warned, “a considerable execution risk is introduced for the buyer. All of this casts serious doubts on the supposed added value that this operation was going to represent, because all of these aspects can end up eliminating the possible cost benefits and the apparent value offered,” indicated the president of Sabadell.

When politics intervene…

Oliu recalled Sabadell’s choice, in 2015, to purchase the British financial institution TSB, “an opportunity for greater diversification and future consolidation in the EU.” Until Brexit arrived. “We all know that politics can introduce risks into the business world that can hardly be foreseen,” he recalled in his speech, earlier than congratulating himself on the great course of the British financial institution in recent times.

The identical shock might be inferred from Oliu’s speech, which BBVA has confronted. “Politics, human feelings, sensitivity, communication, social understanding or the feeling of identity. These are all incredibly important concepts when it comes to running businesses. They cannot be left aside,” defined the Catalan banker. “And under these premises, my personal vision is that, today, Sabadell and BBVA are more valuable separately than together,” he concluded.