MADRID, 14 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Norges Bank has reduced its stake in Banco Sabadell, going from the 2.987% it held since October 2021 to 1.815%, according to the records of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
Norway’s central bank controls this position only through direct voting rights. In total, it has 98.7 million shares that have a total value of approximately 182.6 million euros, taking into account the price at which Sabadell shares are currently trading of 1.85 euros.
However, it remains a significant shareholder, along with BlackRock (3,621%), David Martínez Guzmán (3.56%), who holds this stake through Fintech Europe, and Dimensional Fund Advisors (3,011%).
This reduction occurs days after BBVA announced its intention to launch a hostile takeover bid for 100% of Banco Sabadell’s capital.
One of the conditions for it to go ahead is that 50.01% of the shareholders of the Catalan entity approve the takeover bid, so significant shareholders will play an important role in this operation.
The president of BBVA, Carlos Torres, stated in the press conference he gave on May 9, the same day the takeover bid was announced, that he had received interest from shareholders, “some of them relevant,” in the operation, and the terms, which he had previously presented to the council of Sabadell, and which it had rejected.
It is not the only entity that has reduced its participation in Sabadell. On the 10th, the Millennium fund announced that it had reduced the control it had over Sabadell from 2.165% to 1.953%, although this operation occurred two days before BBVA published the announcement of the takeover bid.