By Jesús Aguado
MADRID (Reuters) – BBVA has submitted possible remedies to competition authorities in order to ease concerns and avoid a longer review of its proposed 12 billion euro ($13 billion) takeover of Sabadell, the Spanish bank’s CEO said on Thursday.
BBVA, which reported results on Thursday, made a bid for Sabadell in April and went hostile in May, but Spain’s CNMC, which formally launched an initial review on May 31, has yet to reach a decision on the deal.
“We have submitted a letter of remedies to eliminate any concerns that the CNMC might have, but the content of those remedies is confidential”, Onur Genc told reporters.
The BBVA CEO said he did not see competition issues for the Sabadell bid as the combined group would not be the biggest bank in Spain, adding that it should therefore be reviewed in phase 1 of the process rather than moving on to a second stage.
Moving to phase 2, which usually takes three months, could be a blow for BBVA because the government, which has opposed the deal, could then step in and stricter remedies could ensue.
The CNMC said on Wednesday it would decide around mid-November whether it would needed more time to complete its evaluation of BBVA’s bid.
“If it goes to phase 2, we wouldn’t agree with it but we will continue to work with them,” Genc said, adding: “In any case … this should be approved with non-structural remedies as was the case three years ago with the Caixa-Bankia deal”.
BBVA would still have the option to walk away from the deal if conditions were “unacceptable”, Genc added.
($1 = 0.9186 euros)
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; additional reporting by Emma Pinedo; editing by Alexander Smith)
