According to the FT, one of BBVA’s largest shareholders has left the company after Sabadell’s takeover bid was rejected.

GQG Partners, an investment firm focused on European banks and with a presence in institutions such as Commerzbank or CaixaBank, this summer sold its entire stake in BBVA, in which it became one of the five largest shareholders, in a sign of opposition to the hostile takeover proposal. Banc Sabadell, assures Financial Times.

According to the British newspaper, the sale came after BBVA executives signaled their opposition to the transaction because they believed it would take too long, distract the bank from other goals and weaken its exposure to emerging markets.

The Florida-based investment fund was founded by Indian manager Rajeev Jain, a former director of the Swiss group Vontobel, and three years ago it acquired a 3% stake in BBVA, making it the third-largest shareholder. In June, he was still one of the five largest investors.

With this decision, GQG becomes the first major BBVA shareholder to categorically reject the move. His departure came ahead of the bank’s shareholders’ meeting on July 5, at which 96% of shareholders voted in favor of the capital increase needed to consider a takeover bid.

A bank that is “doing a good job” of organic growth

Portfolio manager from GQG itself, quoted Financial TimesBrian Kersmanz assures that the company liked the fact that BBVA “returned to its core business” after withdrawing investments in the United States and some Latin American countries. “They’re doing really well in Mexico, Turkey and Spain,” where they’re doing “pretty well” with organic growth, the manager adds.

For BBVA, massive support at the general meeting is the best indicator that shareholders support an operation that the bank believes generates value and is of interest to all parties.

The bank is waiting for the CNMV to approve the prospectus for the operation, a step before filing a takeover bid. In parallel, the competition authority, the CNMC, analyzes the impact of integration on the market and must decide whether to examine the case in the first stage or decide to do so in more detail in the second stage, which could delay a decision.