{"id":177372,"date":"2025-10-16T22:12:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/the-last-move-by-the-president-of-sabadell-that-toppled-carlos-torres-in-the-final-stretch-of-the-takeover-bid\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T22:12:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:12:43","slug":"the-last-move-by-the-president-of-sabadell-that-toppled-carlos-torres-in-the-final-stretch-of-the-takeover-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/the-last-move-by-the-president-of-sabadell-that-toppled-carlos-torres-in-the-final-stretch-of-the-takeover-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"The last move by the president of Sabadell that toppled Carlos Torres in the final stretch of the takeover bid."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Battle for Banco Sabadell: A Game of Strategies Between BBVA and Catalonian Banking Giants<\/h2>\n

In the \u00a0high-stakes world\u00a0 of banking, the ongoing saga of \u00a0BBVA\u00a0 and \u00a0Banco Sabadell\u00a0 has captured significant attention. The conflict escalated when \u00a0Josep Oliu\u00a0, president of Banco Sabadell, issued a statement to his team earlier this year, hinting that the bank’s headquarters might soon return to \u00a0Catalonia\u00a0, presuming that \u00a0Carlos Torres\u00a0, the president of BBVA, might be left behind. This remark exemplified Oliu’s \u00a0strategic maneuvers\u00a0 as he consistently outplayed Torres in prior confrontations.<\/p>\n

Torres has faced numerous obstacles in his \u00a0hostile takeover bid\u00a0 for Banco Sabadell, a challenge underscored by Oliu’s prior successes. One notable victory was navigating through the \u00a0government’s intervention\u00a0, a situation previously deemed unusual for the financial sector. However, the pivotal moment in this drama was the OPA (public offering) threshold, where BBVA sought to acquire at least \u00a030%\u00a0 of Sabadell’s capital to gain significant control.<\/p>\n

Despite analyst predictions earlier this week that BBVA would breach this critical threshold, the results were disappointing. The main question that remains is, why did this happen?<\/p>\n

Consultants advising BBVA acknowledged the recent tactics employed by Sabadell as a game-changer. Oliu, along with his savvy \u00a0CEO C\u00e9sar Gonz\u00e1lez-Bueno\u00a0, successfully shaped the narrative to imply that Torres could only garner \u00a030%\u00a0 of the capital before needing a second bid to reach the coveted \u00a050%\u00a0 mark. This perception made it more appealing for Sabadell investors to wait for an \u00a0all-cash deal\u00a0 rather than exchanging shares in BBVA, yet again tilting the scales in Sabadell’s favor.<\/p>\n

BBVA attempted to counteract this narrative, arguing that the notion of a second bid was unsubstantiated for two main reasons. First, they believed they were assured of reaching the \u00a050%\u00a0 mark with backing from key investors, including Sabadell’s largest stakeholder, \u00a0David Mart\u00ednez\u00a0. Second, they contended that a future bid would likely offer no advantage, as it would be at the same price as the original offer, complicating matters for potential sellers.<\/p>\n

The significant indicator of BBVA’s failure was its inability to obtain even \u00a026%\u00a0 of the capital initially. This shortfall indicated that it could not convince institutional investors\u2014those adept at discerning valuable opportunities\u2014as analysts had previously assumed. The fallout from this setback was swift, as Torres immediately moved to implement a ‘Plan B’ aimed at enhancing shareholder returns through the largest dividend payout in BBVA’s history, alongside a significant share buyback, aimed at boosting share value.<\/p>\n

Torres, hinting that he would not resign, is widely recognized as a strategist with experience, having engaged in past corporate battles, including a well-known tussle between \u00a0Endesa\u00a0 and \u00a0Gas Natural\u00a0 two decades ago. His decision to launch the bid during the politically charged Catalan election campaign raised eyebrows, though he justified it, claiming the leakage of information necessitated swift action\u2014a leak he has not directly attributed to Oliu.<\/p>\n

When evaluating these strategic moves, Sabadell’s relocation of its headquarters back to \u00a0Catalonia\u00a0 earlier this year served to solidify alliances with figures like \u00a0Salvador Illa\u00a0 and \u00a0Junts\u00a0, indirectly supporting \u00a0Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u00a0 in defending against BBVA’s takeover attempts.<\/p>\n

Oliu’s effective maneuvering has repeatedly kept BBVA off-balance, convincing investors that Torres needed to pay a premium to succeed. Ultimately, BBVA conceded and raised its bid, yet Oliu triumphed with a maneuver that made Torres\u2019s initial bid seemingly pointless.<\/p>\n

The intriguing twist in this financial tale is that while one may appear to win, they could simultaneously end up on the losing side regarding value. Analysts have pointed out that BBVA may have overpaid for Sabadell and that the future of the Catalonian bank may be jeopardized post-takeover. Additionally, after divesting its UK subsidiary \u00a0TSB\u00a0 to \u00a0Banco Santander\u00a0 for \u20ac3 billion, Sabadell finds itself lacking key diversification, further complicating its future prospects.<\/p>\n

In contrast, \u00a0Ana Bot\u00edn\u00a0, president of \u00a0Banco Santander\u00a0, participated enthusiastically in a debate in the U.S. with \u00a0Jamie Dimon\u00a0 from \u00a0JP Morgan\u00a0. Bot\u00edn\u2019s positive engagement stems from being an indirect winner in this scenario. As BBVA struggles to catch up to Santander’s size, her bank solidifies its standing in the crucial UK market while also benefitting from Sabadell’s recent sell-offs.<\/p>\n

As both BBVA and Sabadell grapple with the outcomes of this protracted OPA, the pressing challenge lies in convincing all stakeholders that this situation is ultimately advantageous for both parties involved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Battle for Banco Sabadell: A Game of Strategies Between BBVA and Catalonian Banking Giants In the \u00a0high-stakes world\u00a0 of banking, the ongoing saga of \u00a0BBVA\u00a0 and \u00a0Banco Sabadell\u00a0 has captured significant attention. The conflict escalated when \u00a0Josep Oliu\u00a0, president of Banco Sabadell, issued a statement to his team earlier this year, hinting that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23832],"tags":[36724,42625],"class_list":["post-177372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance","tag-economia-empresas","tag-nlpremium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}