Barcala Trusts Sabadell's Victory in the Takeover Bid Will Strengthen Employment and Bring More Offices to Alicante

After BBVA's failure to proceed with the acquisition of Banco Sabadell, the takeover saga has concluded. Only 25.33% of the shares of the Catalan bank targeted by the takeover bid responded "favorably." The overwhelming rejection by Sabadell's shareholders has rendered the offer "null and void," as announced late Thursday by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

The initial reactions were swift, with Alicante's mayor, Luis Barcala, commenting on the "failure" of the public acquisition offer, which he and other political figures, along with the Alicante business community, opposed due to Banco Sabadell's roots in the city and province. The bank had its social headquarters in Alicante, although it decided over a year ago to return to Catalonia amid BBVA's acquisition process.

A decision that was not well-received by the Alicante community, but was understood given the circumstances. Now, nearly two years after the saga, Alicante's mayor focuses on what was negotiated with the bank at that time. Barcala has emphasized that the refusal of this purchase "must inevitably lead to greater stability for Banco Sabadell's bank offices in Alicante, and therefore greater job protection."

The mayor reiterated that following the cessation of this operation "there will be or should be no relocations or layoffs of the bank's staff, which was one of the requirements we demanded at the time." The mayor also calls for "more offices and more face-to-face service in bank branches."

Barcala trusts that, once the BBVA takeover saga is over, Sabadell will "fulfill its announced decision during the takeover negotiations to strengthen its commitment to Alicante and with a greater attachment to the territory," for which Barcala calls for "more support for investment and customer service."

Sabadell itself issued a statement late Thursday thanking shareholders, employees, customers, and society for "the support shown over the past year and a half for the continuity of the entity on its own" and reiterates that both banks "generate more value separately than together."

The CEO of Sabadell explained that "we will continue to grow in the coming years, we will raise our profitability to 16% by 2027, and we will maintain a strong pace of capital generation that will allow us to remunerate our shareholders with 6.45 billion euros by 2027, equivalent to 40% of the bank's current value."