BBVA pledges more commitments to regions affected by bid for Sabadell

By Jesús Aguado

MADRID (Reuters) -BBVA's Chair Carlos Torres on Friday pledged more commitments to the regions most affected by the bank's proposed takeover of smaller rival Sabadell, and said he was confident the bid would get regulatory approval.

BBVA's all-share hostile takeover offer for Sabadell, valued last April at more than 12 billion euros ($12.64 billion), is being reviewed by Spain's antitrust watchdog but is opposed by the Spanish government due to the potential impact on competition and jobs.

BBVA has submitted remedies to the antitrust watchdog CNMC, but Torres told a shareholders' meeting in Bilbao that "we will also increase our commitment to the different regions, particularly those where we have a stronger presence".

When CNMC took the review to a longer phase 2 analysis, it said the Catalonia and Valencia regions were problematic as they include provinces where the combined market share of BBVA and Sabadell for retail banking products exceeds 30%.

"We have every confidence in the success of the operation (...) because it is beneficial for everyone," Torres said, stressing that the merger was also a "clear bet" on Spain and its companies.

Torres said BBVA expected a "swift" decision from the authorities regarding the review.

His comments come after Sabadell CEO Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno said on Wednesday he did not expect Spain's competition watchdog to be "too harsh" on BBVA when it publishes its review of the proposed deal, possibly as soon as this month.

In an attempt to also smooth the Spanish government's opposition to the deal, Torres pledged to maintain Sabadell's corporate centre in Sant Cugat (Barcelona) as a relevant decision-making centre.

Sabadell has urged the government to be transparent about any conditions it may put on the takeover bid.

Torres also said that in a challenging global context European banks needed to gain scale and strength.

A merger between Sabadell and BBVA would create a bank with over 1 trillion euros ($1.11 trillion) in total assets.

"We (Europe) need to make up for lost ground, gaining weight in the global economy, in innovation and energy transition, and consolidating our autonomy in defence and security," he said.

EU countries are currently looking to boost defence spending by at least 800 billion euros ($873 billion) over four years.

"In this context a merger between BBVA and Sabadell makes even more sense", Torres said.

Shareholders approved the re-election of Executive Chairman Torres and Chief Executive Onur Genc as members of the board of BBVA and renewed a plan to execute the share capital increase approved by the extraordinary general shareholders' meeting of 2024 to fund the Sabadell deal.

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado, additional reporting by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Susan Fenton)