BBVA’s extraordinary general meeting of shareholders approved on Friday a capital increase of 551 million euros and the placing of 1,126 million new shares into circulation to deal with the takeover offer of Banco Sabadell. The extraordinary meeting was held at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, where BBVA’s president, Carlos Torres, defended the operation once again and was convinced that it would be “successful” and would allow the creation of a “stronger, more competitive and profitable” bank. The measure received the support of 96% of shareholders.
Carlos Torres has confirmed that he is in favour of the purchase. Bank of Sabadell, The Basque entity will gain a broad scope and become the second Spanish bank. At this stage, he reaffirmed his commitment to small and medium-sized enterprises, a sector in which the Alicante-based Banco de Valencia plays a very important role. “Taking care of small and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed is a fundamental priority for BBVA,” he commented. On the other hand, he also expressed his commitment BBVA With the areas where the largest Sabadell Bank is present, such as Catalonia and the Valencian Community, in addition to maintaining the company’s headquarters in Sant Cugat del Vallès.
Union concern
In the shareholders’ interventions, union representatives were the first to participate and warned of the consequences of the merger, considering that it would lead to workforce reductions, forced exits and relocations and an increase in employment. The workload is “unacceptable” for an already under-equipped workforce, they said. In addition, they criticized the fact that a collective agreement has not yet been signed, and the loss of purchasing power for bank employees who, in some cases, have had their wages frozen for 15 years, they said. Finally, some warned that “the practice of intimidation” has begun to be imposed by intermediate leaders to pressure their teams.
Aside from union representatives, other shareholders also stepped in and expressed their support for OPA, such as: additional Or the former president of Sacere, Luis del Rivero. The latter confirmed that it was an “interesting operation” and recommended voting in favor of it, although he asked that the person leading the merger be the president of Banco Sabadell, Josep Olio of Sabadell, and not by BBVA.
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Cover photo: Carlos Torres, president of BBVA, in an archival photo. Author: ACN
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