Sabadell CEO expects BBVA to get off lightly in Spanish antitrust review

LONDON (Reuters) -Sabadell's CEO said on Wednesday he did not expect Spain's competition regulator to come down too hard on BBVA's hostile takeover bid when it announces the outcome of its review into the proposed deal.

Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno said that the regulator, which is expected to give its view as soon as the end of this month, wouldn't be "very harsh" on BBVA and would likely impose behavioural remedies to approve the offer, rather than structural demands such as asset sales.

However, the CEO told the Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference in London that the offer from its bigger rival was in a "very shaky" state because of political opposition and because the economics did not stack up. 

"I think the deal is at a very complex stage and it doesn't have a very bright future," he said, repeating his view that the deal would consume more capital than BBVA first envisaged and that the predicted synergies from a merger were unachievable.

BBVA has said it could pursue a bid but stop short of a full merger with Sabadell, which would require government approval. Such a scenario would increase the negative cost to its capital, BBVA has said.

BBVA's CEO Onur Genc said on Tuesday he was confident competition authorities would approve its bid within the next few weeks, stressing that the lender had submitted a long list of remedies to get the deal done.

The 12.28 billion euro ($13.4 billion) surprise move on Sabadell, announced nearly 11 months ago, would be Spain's second-biggest banking deal by assets. The government is opposed, saying it will be bad for jobs and competition, particularly in the market for small and medium-sized business lending where Sabadell is a major player.

($1 = 0.9178 euros)

(Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Editing by Iain Withers and Mark Potter)