The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has already made a decision on BBVA’s takeover bid for Banco Sabadell and continues to analyze the impact of the operation, which it describes as “hostile”, because it has no impact. agreement between the entities, and in which she perceives that “this requires further analysis”.
Competition collapses since “the economic sector concerned by the operation is the financial sector, in particular banking services and payment services” and that “in addition, the parties are present simultaneously on the market for production and insurance distribution, in pension funds and plans and in the asset management market,” he lists.
This is why, “taking into account the circumstances of the operation and its potential impact on the maintenance of effective competition”, its Competition Chamber decided “to deepen the analysis of the file in the second phase of the procedure”.
This will delay the resolution of the takeover bid by several months and does not imply that it will decide one way or another, “this does not prejudge the final conclusions”.
Will request information from the autonomous communities
The controller headed by Cani Fernández specifies that, “in the first phase of the procedure”, Competition “conducted an in-depth investigation into the competition situation in the markets concerned”, which consisted, for example, of requiring information of the parties concerned. . “This will result in greater efficiency in the analysis during the second phase, the objective of which is to deepen the study of the operation,” he indicates.
“Banco de Sabadell and other third parties with a legitimate interest may present allegations” and “also the notifier”, in reference to BBVA, “may make allegations and provide more information. Likewise, a mandatory report will be requested from the autonomous communities in which the concentration has a significant impact,” he adds, indicating that the process will be long. “The final resolution approved by the CNMC may authorize, accept commitments, impose conditions or prohibit the concentration operation”, of BBVA and Sabadell.
For weeks, the CNMC decision has been the focus of attention of BBVA and Sabadell, to see whether an exhaustive analysis of the impact of a future merger between the two banks was necessary or not. And there, each entity defended its interests. The CEO of BBVA, Onur Genç, assured a few days ago that “there are no competition problems” because “Spain is a very competitive market” and because the CNMC has not put obstacles to the integration of Bankia and Caixabank.
On the other hand, the CEO of Sabadell, César González Bueno, was pulling in the opposite direction, because, according to him, “there is a clamor, in Spain, from the autonomous communities, from the political arc, according to which he is [una operación] bad”.
