The Spanish bank Bbva modified its Public Acquisition Offer, OPA, on its smaller competitor Sabadellreducing the minimum acceptance condition of its previous offer, the lender said Thursday.
Bbva’s offer is now directed at the number of shares that would allow Bbva acquire at least more than half of the effective voting rights of Sabadell at the end of the acceptance period, instead of the previous 50.1% of the share capital.
The modified offer excludes Sabadell’s own sharesalthough Bbva has added that if the operation is successful, it will request its amortization at its first general meeting of shareholders“reducing the share capital and immobilizing said shares in the meantime.”
Bbva, which submitted a bid for Sabadell last April and turned it hostile in May, is working on concessions after Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission said its offer, initially valued at US$13 billionshould undergo a more extensive review.
The combination of both entities would create a bank with more than US$1.04 trillion in total assets and it would mean the most recent consolidation movement in the Spanish banking sector.
The second largest Spanish bank has already obtained authorization from the European Central Bank and the authorities of several countries in which Sabadell is present, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Portugal, Morocco and Mexico. The acquisition, which the Spanish Government opposes, also requires authorization from the CNMV.
Sabadell rejected the offer to purchase all the shares in Maywhich led Bbva to launch a second hostile attempt to purchase the country’s fourth largest credit institution, after a failed offer in 2020.
