Alicante Chamber of Commerce appears to be interested in CNMC in BBVA’s takeover bid for Sabadell | Companies

The Alicante Chamber of Commerce has decided to act as an interested party in the procedure opened by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) to examine the concentration operation resulting from BBVA’s announced takeover bid for Banco Sabadell. The agency was informed about this by sources in the chamber structure. Europe Presswho clarified that on Tuesday the Executive Committee of this organization unanimously approved the sending of this letter to the CNMC.

The same sources indicated that the Chamber justifies this decision because it is an institution that protects the interests of business and industry, and also because there are many companies and businesses that are clients of one or both of these two banking institutions. In this sense, the Chamber of Alicante insisted that the purpose of acting as an interested party in a case is to gain access to all information first hand and communicate it to its members. CNMC is currently studying this operation in its second phase.

The decision to deepen the assessment means that stakeholders may argue for or against the operation. This is something that Banco Sabadell itself already did in the middle of the month, since until now it could only respond to the information demands of the competition.

The Alicante Chamber of Commerce thus joins the growing number of institutions interested in going public. The Commission Service Federation of Workers’ Union (CCOO) last Friday asked to act as a social agent for those affected by the operation. The UGT did the same on Monday, justifying the “relevant impact on the conditions of competition in the banking market and in particular in relation to workers in this sector.” Earlier, the Catalan employers’ association Foment del Treball launched the same initiative due to “concerns” about the effect that a takeover bid could have on Catalan companies. The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the General Council of Cambrai de Catalunya, which represents 13 chambers in Catalonia, also expressed their criticism.

The decision comes after the European Commission confirmed on Tuesday that it would not object to the operation. Brussels gave the green light to the deal, which was to be reviewed under new Community merger rules designed to prevent third-country states from taking control of European companies through companies, funds or various instruments.