By Jesús Aguado
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain’s Sabadell said on Tuesday that 2.8% of shareholders who represent 30.8% of the bank’s capital have accepted BBVA’s 16.48 billion euro ($19.07 billion) hostile takeover bid.
According to this partial take-up recount, that represents 1.1% of Sabadell’s total share capital, the bank said.
Sabadell only provided details of the acceptance level of shares held by its investors in the bank. About 40% of Sabadell’s capital is held by retail shareholders, of which around 80% are also clients of the bank.
Shareholders of Sabadell had until October 10 to accept BBVA’s deal and the Spanish stock market supervisor will publish complete results of the bid on Friday.
Sabadell’s 20 largest shareholders are international institutional investors, with its biggest shareholder BlackRock owning around 7%, according to the Spanish supervisor.
BBVA’s hostile pursuit, dating back to May 2024, has turned into one of the most bitter M&A battles in Spain in recent years. It aims to create one of Europe’s largest lenders despite government opposition that would prevent it from merging the two entities for three years.
CASH ALTERNATIVE
BBVA aims to secure support from at least 50.01% of Sabadell shareholders, though it can lower the threshold to 30%.
If BBVA removes this condition and secures between 30% and 50%, it would be required to submit a second mandatory offer for the remaining shares, involving a cash alternative. In any case, the fair-value price would be set by the supervisor.
Sabadell CEO Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno told Reuters last week that the most-likely scenario was that BBVA would not reach a threshold of 30% initially, though it could end up in the region of the low 30%s.
In contrast, BBVA’s CEO Onur Genc said that the lender was “very comfortable” it would reach 50%.
Analysts are divided on the likely outcome.
Since BBVA improved its bid in September- offering one of its own shares for each 4.8376 Sabadell shares -, the so-called spread has turned positive. Based on Monday’s closing prices BBVA is offering a 1.85% premium to Sabadell’s share price.
($1 = 0.8644 euros)
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; Editing by Emma Pinedo and Susan Fenton)
