The BBVA throws a jug of cold water to the main expectation of the market, which substantially improves the Sabadell to guarantee success in the transaction. The CEO, Onur Genç, has ruled out this Thursday to raise the price offered by the Catalan entity, as well as to reduce the acceptance threshold, although he has left the door open to renounce the offer once the Sabadell approves in its shareholders meetings to Santander by 3.1 billion.
“The offer is the offer. We have said it multiple times,” said Genç to rule out that they contemplate raising the price paid in the OPA, although and currently the negative premium is around 12%. The CEO has alluded to the fact that the price they offer is 30% higher than that traded by the Catalan bank more than 15 months, the day before a possible operation between both banks was filtered. And 50% higher than the average contribution in the six months after that offer. “Compared to other opas in the sector, such as those seen in Italy, it is a fantastic cousin,” he said.
Genç has also defended that it is an offer entirely in shares, compared to those who claim that it includes a cash section. This has allowed, in his opinion, that Sabadell’s action rises in the 15 months of waiting for the OPA, having “the support” of the BBVA actions. He has put as an example the situation lived in the stock market this Thursday. The titles of the Basque Bank have come to shoot more than 8% for the strategic plan presented – in which it promises 36,000 million to return to the shareholders until 2028 – and those of Sabadell have done so by up to 5%. Therefore, Genç argues that the offer has already improved with
The Executive has also ruled out that in order to guarantee the success of the offer. While he has clarified that it is an option that the law allows, the fact that they would not mean having control remains attractive.
In what Genç has not been so forceful is in a possible resignation of the offer. The OPAS Law after the Shadow Bank Shareholders Boards that will be held next week, on August 6, give the approval both to the sale of its British subsidiary, TSB, as well as to the payment of a dividend of 2.5 billion. “There is no guarantees of anything,” he said in this regard and, therefore, if they perceive that after these movements of the Catalans they do not appreciate value, they will withdraw it. He has affirmed that they have the right to do so at that time, according to the law.
“If the OPA does not come out, nothing happens. We move on. We will remain focused on fulfilling our business plan,” he said. This roadmap that has presented this Thursday, in fact, does not incorporate Sabadell into the perimeter. The CEO has justified it to want to explain to the market “the intrinsic value” that the BBVA entails alone and has affirmed that the dividend promises are independent of the operation with the Sabadell.
Genç has advanced that, to move forward with the OPA and present during the month of August in the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the brochure about the operation, the bank will explain in September what is the business plan incorporating the Sabadell. And it will also clarify how many synergies can emerge from the 850 million initially projected despite the condition imposed by the Council of Ministers that forces them to maintain corporate independence, heritage and management of the two banks for three years, expandable to two more.
On this matter, he pointed out that the Bank has not yet made a decision on whether to resort to the Supreme Court the resolution of the Government. Yes, he pointed out that the entity’s opinion is that the Executive had no legal capacity to condition the offer, just to soften the requirements that the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) had agreed before.
