Market regulator approves BBVA's improved takeover offer for Banc Sabadell

Spain's market regulator CNMV has approved the Basque bank's BBVA improved takeover offer for Banc Sabadell on Thursday morning, before the stock market opened.

The regulator also extended the acceptance period to October 10, a three-day extension compared to before the Basque bank improved its offer for the Catalan bank.

Banc Sabadell shareholders will now be able to exchange 4.8736 shares for one of BBVA, a 10% improvement on the previous offer.

Meanwhile, Banc Sabadell president Josep Oliu said that the new offer is just "a dish with lentils," and it is a "bad" offer, as he said in an interview with newspaper Ara. 'Vendre's per un plat de llenties' is a Catalan phrase that is used to say someone has accepted a very low value offer.

He believes that the new offer is "not enough to convince most of the shareholders," and that the new ratio "continues to be a low offer."

BBVA improved the offer on Monday morning despite negatives from BBVA's managing team, who had been completely opposed to the improvement since day one.

The Basque bank has also said that it will not do any other improvements and that it will not extend the deadline for Banc Sabadell shareholders to decide whether they back the bid or not.

Late last week, Banc Sabadell's CEO César González-Bueno, said that the bank's shareholders consider the takeover bid "worthless" and that none of its retail shareholders had accepted the Basque bank's offer.

“It is very significant. This hostile bid at this price makes absolutely no sense,” he said on Friday.