Banco Sabadell continues to strengthen after managing to save BBVA’s hostile takeover bid. The president of the Catalan entity, Josep Oliu, takes advantage of his public appearances (which are decreasing after the overexposure that both he and his number two, the entity’s CEO, César González-Bueno, suffered in the final phase of the takeover bid) to continue to claim the defense of its business model in the face of the expectations that BBVA had created of giving life to a large entity with an international vocation, if it had carried out the merger. Oliu, “the man of the moment”, as the government delegate in Catalonia Carlos Prieto defines him, underlined that “solvent banks that provide a good service to customers are needed. Whether they are large or not”.
The president of Sabadell defined the decision taken by Sabadell shareholders to reject BBVA’s proposal by an overwhelming majority as an “exercise in pragmatism and rationality”, given that only 25% of the shareholders of the Vallesano bank supported the offer when almost no one expected it to remain below 30% and, in that case, the process would have been prolonged with a possible second takeover bid.
Sabadell management forged its defense of the takeover bid with a story that sought to present the entity as a smaller asset than BBVA, but with a powerful boost of dynamism and solvency. Once safe from the attack wanted by the bank led by Carlos Torres, Sabadell continues to pull the same thread. “A company, just because it is big, does not have to be more competitive,” Oliu insisted during a conference in Barcelona.
The recommendations of the Draghi Report and the challenge of recovering productivity and competitiveness are at the center of part of President Sabadell’s speech, but Oliu warned that “we must address the issue on a case-by-case basis, with pragmatism”. He admits that it could be interesting to encourage the creation of pan-European banks, but believes that there are still outstanding issues: “There is a lack of harmonisation”. Furthermore, it highlights that bank consolidation can be explored without neglecting those entities that are regionally strong. “We are open to changes to gain competitiveness,” he said, alluding to “digital innovations”.
Oliu argues that competitiveness is not measured only by the size of companies, “precisely because having larger and more internationalized banks will not be more competitive and will generate more progress for society,” he said during a presentation on productivity in the financial sector at an event organized by the College of Economists of Catalonia.
His intervention comes just three weeks after the failure of the takeover bid attempted by BBVA to take over Banco Sabadell. The Catalan entity plans to organize a macro party at the Palau Sant Jordi on November 15th. The intention is to thank the workers for their commitment during the OPA and give the call a fun and festive character, where there will be food, drinks and musical atmosphere.
BBVA handled the setback in the operation carefully. The president of the bank, Carlos Torres, and the CEO, Onur Genç, sent a letter to the employees of the entity in which they denounced the failure of the takeover bid for Sabadell. Torres acknowledged it was not the outcome they expected and called the failed transaction “a missed opportunity.” He also showed respect for the decision of Sabadell’s shareholders, “with the serenity and tranquility of having always done what we had to do”. “This result does not change our excellent future prospects. We close this chapter and look to the future with the same energy and confidence”, he concluded.
