Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 28, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleDavid Martinez steps down from Sabadell's board after supporting BBVA's failed takeover bid, sparking speculation about his stake.
MADRID (Reuters) - David Martinez, the third-largest shareholder at Sabadell with a 3.86% stake, stepped down from the Spanish bank's board, the lender said on Thursday evening.
CONTEXT
In September, Martinez accepted BBVA's improved hostile takeover for smaller lender Sabadell which in the end failed as it was just accepted by those holding 25.47% of Sabadell's voting rights.
He was the only board member at Sabadell to vote in favour of BBVA's bid.
The board had told shareholders to reject the revised offer of about 16.97 billion euros ($19.65 billion), arguing it still undervalued the bank. WHY IT'S IMPORTANTMexican investor Martinez is the bank's largest individual shareholder and had served on its board for 12 years.
His resignation raises speculation about whether he might divest his stake, currently worth around 616 million euros.
KEY QUOTE
Late on Thursday evening, Martinez said through his investment vehicle Fintech Advisory that "leaving the board is an independent decision and not a reflection of the bank's future prospects which should continue to create value for shareholders with a very attractive distribution profile".
SHARE PERFORMANCE
Since the bid failed, shares in Sabadell have fallen 1.6% while shares in BBVA have risen 18.5%.
($1 = 0.8626 euros)
(Reporting by Charlie Devereux and Jesús Aguado; Editing by Joe Bavier and Tomasz Janowski)
A hostile takeover occurs when an acquiring company attempts to take control of a target company against the wishes of the target's management and board of directors.
A board of directors is a group of individuals elected to represent shareholders and oversee the activities of a company, ensuring it is managed in the shareholders' best interests.
A shareholder is an individual or institution that owns shares in a company, giving them a claim on part of the company's assets and earnings.
Share performance refers to how well a company's stock performs in the market, often measured by its price changes over time and its returns to shareholders.
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