MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish bank BBVA announced on Wednesday that it had proposed a merger with its competitor Sabadell with a view to creating one of the largest European banking groups with more than 1,000 billion euros in assets.
The offer from BBVA, Spain’s second-largest bank, values Sabadell, fourth on the Spanish market, at around 12 billion euros, according to Reuters calculations.
The bank is offering one new BBVA share for 4.83 Sabadell shares contributed, i.e. a premium of 30% on the closing price of April 29.
BBVA emphasizes that it is ready to “immediately advance the transaction” in the event of agreement from Sabadell.
The latter simply said that it was up to its board of directors to examine this proposal.
The Spanish banking sector experienced a major wave of consolidation following the 2008 financial crisis, which notably resulted in a major real estate crisis in Spain. Spain had 55 banks at the start of this crisis, compared to 10 now.
(Written by Jesús Aguado, French version Bertrand Boucey)
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