Catalan business organizations urge Spanish PM to block BBVA's Sabadell takeover

Several organizations from the Catalan business community sent a letter on Friday to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asking him to stop BBVA's hostile takeover bid for Banco Sabadell, citing reasons of public interest.

They argue that the takeover would be harmful due to, among other things, an "excessive" concentration of business and financial power, loss of jobs and bank branches, and a weakening of social and territorial cohesion.

The letter was signed by Catalonia's 13 chambers of commerce, along with other organizations such as Barcelona Global, Cecot, the College of Economists of Catalonia, FemCat, Fira de Barcelona, Foment del Treball, Pimec, and RACC.

The letter also claims that between €54 billion and €70 billion in credit available to small and medium-sized enterprises could be lost.

The Spanish government has launched a public consultation over the takeover bid after it was approved by the regulator.