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Spanish bank BBVA has confirmed reports that it is preparing an offer to acquire Banco Sabadell in a potential all-stock bid.
The potential takeover would create a Spain-headquartered banking giant with a market capitalisation of over €72bn, making it one of the largest European banking deals in years. A previous effort to merge the two banks collapsed in 2020 over a disagreement in price.
A BBVA-Sabadell deal would strengthen BBVA’s domestic business and help it to expand lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, a market in which Sabadell excels. BBVA’s shares have surged in recent years driven by robust performance in Mexico and substantial shareholder dividends. Meanwhile, Sabadell has experienced a series of profit increases, supported by Spain’s higher interest rates, leading to a five-fold rise in its share price since the failed merger talks in 2020.
A potential merger would also raise questions over the future of TSB, the UK retail bank that Sabadell acquired in 2015. TSB declined an offer from UK rival The Co-operative Bank in 2021. The Co-operative Bank is currently undergoing an acquisition by the Coventry Building Society in a deal confirmed in April.
Shares in BBVA dropped 3.5 per cent after news of the talks was first reported by Sky News, while shares in Sabadell rose 5.8 per cent. According to anonymous sources cited by Sky, JPMorgan and UBS are advising BBVA on its bid.
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Austrian authorities are urging Raiffeisen Bank International to abandon a deal with possible links to a Russian oligarch amid fears of potential repercussions from the US, as reported by Reuters citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
RBI, the largest western bank operating in Russia, is seeking to purchase a €1.5bn stake in Vienna-based construction group Strabag from a company that was previously controlled by western-sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
According to Reuters, the controversial deal has prompted international pressure on the Austrian lender, including warnings from Austrian central bank officials about possible US penalties.
Reuters sources said that senior US Treasury officials raised their concerns in meetings with RBI and Austrian authorities earlier this year, as they believe Deripaska will benefit from the sale. Shares in RBI fell nearly 4 per cent following Reuters report of the deal.
A spokesperson for RBI told Reuters the “acquisition of Strabag shares remains subject to the compliance review of RBI”, adding that it “will not buy the shares from Mr Deripaska nor any other sanctioned person or entity”.
A spokesperson for Deripaska said he had “had nothing to do with Strabag for a long time” and would not comment, adding that western sanctions against him are “totally misguided” and “based on false information”. The Austrian central bank declined to comment.
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Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ in the cryptocurrency community, has been sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to inadequate money laundering controls at the cryptocurrency exchange.
Zhao, who founded Binance in 2017, surrendered to US authorities in November. He agreed to step down from his position at Binance after the exchange was fined $4.3bn for failing to stop more than 100,000 suspicious transactions linked to designated terrorist groups including Hamas, al-Qaeda and Isis, as well as sanctioned entities in Iran and Russia, among other violations.
In addition, Zhao paid a $50mn criminal fine alongside $50mn to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
US district judge Richard Jones in Seattle imposed the sentence, which was shorter than the three years sought by prosecutors and below the maximum 18-month sentence recommended under federal guidelines.
Despite its legal challenges, Binance remains the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, although its market share has declined from 60 per cent to 42 per cent since the beginning of last year, according to cryptocurrency market data provider CCData.
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BlackRock and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund have reached an agreement to establish a new investment firm in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The firm, named BlackRock Riyadh Investment Management, will focus on investing across various asset classes, anchored by a $5bn mandate from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The collaboration between BlackRock and PIF aims to boost the growth of capital markets in Saudi Arabia by encouraging foreign institutional investment in the country.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a statement: “We are excited to build on the deep partnership we have developed with PIF over many years to launch this first-of-its-kind international investment management platform in Saudi Arabia.”
