Sabadell says 2.8% of investors holding a third of shares in bank accept BBVA's bid

By Jesús Aguado

MADRID, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Spain's Sabadell SABE.MC said on Tuesday that 2.8% of shareholders who represent 30.8% of the bank's capital have accepted BBVA's BBVA.MC 16.48 billion euro ($19.07 billion) hostile takeover bid.

According to this partial take-up recount, that represents 1.1% of Sabadell's total share capital, the bank said.

Sabadell only provided details of the acceptance level of shares held by Sabadell itself. About 40% of Sabadell's capital is held by retail shareholders, of which around 80% are also clients of the bank.

The Spanish stock market supervisor will publish complete results of the bid on Friday.

BBVA's hostile pursuit, dating back to May 2024, has turned into one of the most bitter M&A battles in Spain in recent years. BBVA aims to create one of Europe's largest lenders despite government opposition that would prevent it from merging the two entities for three years.

A spokesperson for BBVA declined to comment.

BBVA aims to secure support from at least 50.01% of Sabadell's voting rights, excluding treasury shares, though it can lower the threshold to 30%. This is equivalent to almost 2.499 billion shares, BBVA said on Tuesday.

Spanish broker Renta 4 said that the acceptance by Sabadell customers had been low as expected, with 29.7% of the bank's share capital not being tendered.

"This does not rule out the possibility that BBVA could reach more than 50%, but it clearly makes it more difficult and increases the likelihood that it will be in the 30%-50% range," the broker said.

ATTENTION ON INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS

If BBVA removes this condition and secures between 30% and 50%, it would be required to submit a second mandatory offer for the remaining shares, involving a cash alternative, with the fair-value price set by the supervisor.

Attention now turns to institutional investors who are among Sabadell's 20 largest shareholders, with its biggest shareholder BlackRock BLK.N owning around 7%.

Sabadell CEO Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno said last week that the most likely scenario was that BBVA would not reach a threshold of 30% initially, though it could end up in the region of the low 30%s.

In contrast, BBVA's CEO Onur Genc said that the lender was "very comfortable" it would reach 50%.

So far, Sabadell's board member David Martinez, who holds a near 4% stake, has accepted BBVA's bid, while Zurich, which holds an around a 5% stake in the lender, said that it did not intend to tender its shares.

($1 = 0.8644 euros)