Sabadell's David Martinez steps down from board after failed BBVA bid

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)