Body says that the Government’s assessment of the BBVA-Sabadell operation will go "beyond" from that of CNMV and CNMC

He assures that Economía could veto the merger between both entities, but not the acquisition of shares

May 17. () –

The Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Body, assured this Friday that, when assessing the hostile takeover launched by BBVA for Banco Sabadell, the Government will go “beyond” the assessment made by the National Commission of the Securities Market (CNMC) and Markets and Competition (CNMC).

Body, in statements to Onda Cero reported by Europa Press, explained that, after the announcement of BBVA’s hostile takeover bid for Sabadell, the next steps correspond to the institutions that have to first decide whether or not to authorize the operation and in what conditions: the CNMV and the CNMC.

“Regardless of the conditions under which this absorption is reached, we would say, this purchase of Sabadell by BBVA, the government has to make an assessment beyond the assessment made by each of these institutions separately, each one regarding their powers,” he explained.

“Subsequently, BBVA would enter, if all these steps are taken, to make the purchase, to acquire the majority of that 50.01% of Sabadell, and from there, at the moment in which they go towards the merger between the two entities, the decision for authorization corresponds to the Government, specifically the Ministry of Economy,” said Body.

Thus, in addition to collecting all the information from the CNMV and CNMC analyses, the Government will assess “the rest of the dimensions” on which the operation impacts, such as financial inclusion or the “particularly relevant” economic impact in some regions, since Sabadell’s activity is especially concentrated in Catalonia and part of the Valencian Community.

“The Government has a broader vision and within the framework of that broader vision we have already advanced in our diagnosis. I already advanced that the result of the assessment was a rejection of the operation by the Government,” he said. pointed out the minister.

Body has insisted that it is up to the Executive to authorize or deny the merger, which could be vetoed, but not the acquisition of Sabadell shares by BBVA, which would continue to operate as two different banks. That is to say, the Government could not veto BBVA taking over more than half of the Catalan entity, but it could veto absorbing Sabadell.

The minister has stressed that, for the Government, the fundamental thing is to maintain effective competition in the market, while defending that the diagnosis of the operation within the Executive is shared.

Asked if the Government would approve the merger if BBVA offered some “mitigation” measure, such as having branches in areas with an aging population, Corpus did not want to go into “anticipating any derivatives in the decision tree” and has reiterated that its position is “very clear”: its rejection of the operation due to the “excessive” banking concentration.

“I remind you again what our essential concern is and that we cannot and should not anticipate any type of request or result of any analysis. Our concern about the possible reduction of competition, which would lead to harmful effects, we reject that operation for what it may assume in those terms,” ​​he insisted.