The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, has assured that the government will analyze and study the report of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) that approves the public acquisition offer (OPA) hostile of the entity chaired by Carlos Torres on the bank led by Josep Oliu in the second phase and with commitments.
“The first thing is to study in depth the report of the CNMC,” López said in an interview on TVE, which Europa Press has collected, in which he stressed that the Government, before “doing what you have to do”, will analyze and study the document sent by competition.
The second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, said Thursday that from the Executive this OPA must be paralyzed, which is now pending to be approved in the Council of Ministers.
Specifically, Díaz, considered that it will have “a very negative affectation” to employment, to public services and the economic situation of Spain.
Given this, López has defended that all the OPA “have the same concerns.” “Any OPA that occurs between companies, obviously, has conditions in terms of employment and how the company is finally,” added the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, after considering that “that is normal” in this type of operations.
Therefore, López has advanced that the Government will pronounce “normally” once the report is analyzed and has defended that it will comply with the deadlines, within the framework of the beginning of the third phase, in which the Ministry of Economy has a period of 15 days to decide if it takes it to the Council of Ministers.
In the event that the OPA also achieves the approval of the Council of Ministers, the next step will be the approval by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) of the admission brochure and, subsequently, the opening of the acceptance period, which means that the decision will be already in the hands of Sabadell’s shareholders.
For its part, the CNMC has detected risks in the retail bank markets, both in services provided to individuals, such as SMEs and freelancers, as well as in payment media markets, although it has considered that the commitments presented by the BBVA are “adequate, sufficient and proportionate” to solve the problems that this concentration is for competition in the affected markets.
The PP will be “very attentive” to the government’s approach
The general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, said this Friday that in her party they will be “very attentive” to the government’s approach regarding the BBVA OPA over Sabadell, on which “it has not yet pronounced.” During his intervention in Logroño in a Radio Rioja forum ‘a commitment to competitiveness’, he has alluded to the approval of this OPA by the National Competition Market Commission (CNMC) this Wednesday, April 30.
“After knowing this report of the CNMC, it is necessary to see what is the path that the government will raise,” he says. In this forum, it has also demanded “ending the impositions that take competitiveness because a minority demands the government”, in reference to the reduction of the working day, which “must be negotiated from the social dialogue, with the agreement between entrepreneurs and unions.”
On the other hand, Popular has stressed that “competitiveness is linked to the productivity of each sector, which are very different”, so it believes that the working day must be analyzed “in each sector, not by imposition of the Council of Ministers through the BOE.”
Gamarra has not been the only one that has commented on the competition report on the BBVA OPA to Sabadell. The president of Cercle d’acomia, Jaume Guardiola, has affirmed that he sees “high” the predisposition of the Government of Spain to deny BBVA’s public acquisition offer (OPA) on Banco Sabadell.
He said this Friday in an intervention on TV3 collected by Europa Press, after the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) gave the green light to the operation last Wednesday.
“The Government of Spain has repeatedly shown its rejection of the operation. The analysis of the CNMC does not just reflect the greatest risk of this operation, which is to move from four to three financial suppliers (in Catalonia) can lead to credit access problems,” said Guardiola.
