Spain's Sabadell has postponed the completion of the sale of its retailers' payments business to Nexi after becoming the target of a hostile takeover by BBVA, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. "The plans are expected to continue as soon as the outcome of the takeover bid is clarified," the source said. Spokespeople for Sabadell and Nexi declined to comment.
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's stock market supervisor said on Tuesday it has started assessing BBVA's 12.28 billion euro ($13.19 billion) hostile takeover bid for Sabadell, a potential tie-up that Madrid opposes. The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) said it had admitted BBVA's application for authorising the deal, which is part of its regulatory process for approving deals. The deal also requires approval from the European Central Bank and Spanish antitrust watchdog CNMC.
Spain's BBVA asked the European Central Bank on Tuesday to authorize its more than 12 billion euro ($13 billion) hostile bid for Sabadell, a source close to BBVA said. BBVA's all-share offer was rejected by Sabadell last month, prompting Spain's second-largest bank to go hostile in its latest attempt to buy its smaller rival, which is the country's fourth-largest lender and also owns Britain's TSB. "With this submission, BBVA has now completed all the authorization requests, including the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority," the source told Reuters.