BBVA-Sabadell: merger failed due to hasty

The breakdown of the negotiations between Banco Sabadell and BBVA on their merger project, disclosed by both entities in a statement to the CNMV, is the result of the haste with which a process that requires time and understanding between the leaders of both has been approached banks and an agreement at all levels on the conditions of the resulting group.

The integration would have meant the creation of a financial giant with 950,000 million euros in assets.

Although in size they differ

both BBVA and Sabadell are two mainstays of the Spanish financial system.

In recent years they have been exposed to the turbulence of international business and, in the case of the

, to the serious reputational damage generated by the

.

Although encouraged by the ECB, these types of operations require a high dose of discretion and a prudent maturation time. The unsuccessful outcome is due to discrepancies over the price of the exchange of shares at which the absorption of the Catalan group would take place.

Sabadell demanded a price of 0.50 euros per share to value the company at 2,500 million euros, which would have meant a premium of close to 20% over its 20% share price.

In any case, no one is aware - as we reveal today in our pages - that other factors have influenced such as the disagreement between the heads of the two banks and the unleashed haste.

In this sense, the leaks in recent weeks on the composition of the corporate governance of the new bank did not appeal to the board of directors chaired by Josep Oliu.

The tone used by Onur Genç, CEO of BBVA, also raised blisters, who tightened the negotiation by ensuring that there were other alternatives on the table. A priori, it could be thought that the one that risks the most after this false step is Banco Sabadell.

In fact, the end of the negotiations caused its shares to fall more than 10% on the stock market yesterday.

However, it should be remembered that it is a very established entity in Catalonia.

Your business plan will focus on the local business and expanding the efficiency and transformation program in the market.

in Spain.

You will also have to assess the potential sale of your international assets.

This includes TSB, its British subsidiary, the source of multiple headaches.

For its part, the entity chaired by Carlos Torres, which is already working on other alternatives to invest the money obtained from the recent sale of its subsidiary in the US, also aspires to improve its position in Spain. The Spanish financial system has experienced in recent years years a profound transformation.

From an extraordinarily atomized market there has been a growing concentration that requires not only good corporate management, but also adaptation to challenges such as banking

.

In this context, although in this case the attempt between BBVA and Banco Sabadell has not caught on, the mergers will continue to be unavoidable.

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