Carlos Torres is launching a campaign in Catalonia to soften the opposition of politicians and businessmen to his takeover bid for Sabadell.

BBVA will not only have to convince half of the shareholders plus one member of Banco Sabadell to accept the takeover offer for the Catalan enterprise. Carlos Torres He will also have to soften the political and business opposition that he has faced from the first moment, and to begin to achieve this, the president of the bank of Basque origin has met in the last few hours with the acting president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonesand representatives of Catalan businessmen, such as Pimec president Antoni Cañete, to explain their proposal.

In the case of Aragonés, the meeting took place privately in the Palazzo Generalitat. In any case, this is more a symbolic than an effective meeting, given that the results of the Catalan elections on May 12 put Aragones outside the government and that he is still the president

He has already announced that he will leave the political front line as soon as the regional investment is completed.

Before the elections, a few days before the proposal was presented to Sabadell shareholders, Aragones was already in close contact with both the management of the structure, chaired by Josep Oliu, and with Torres, who was in contact with the Generalitat. Still the Catalan president has publicly declared his refusal of the takeover bid, believing that increased banking concentration would cause “irreparable damage” to the Catalan economy, and also warned that a possible merger of both banks would result in Catalonia losing one of the largest banks. decision-making centers that he now has.

Also Pimec and its President, Anthony Cañetepublicly opposed the takeover bid and subsequent planned takeover of BBVA and yesterday had the opportunity to personally convey their position to Torres in a private meeting, employer sources confirmed. Economic news.

Since BBVA announced its intentions, Pimec has said that this type of transaction is “contrary to the interests of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as harmful to the entire financial system.” “We need reliable financial structures, and a hostile takeover not only reduces the current market supply, but also threatens the financial stability of the country,” Cañete said at the time. The president of the SME Employers Association stressed that the impact of this operation could be “particularly significant in a territory like Catalonia, characterized by great business dynamism and requiring pro-company organizations.”

The employers’ association is also on this line of rejection. Promotion of Trebol, although Torres did not meet with his managers on this matter, which was confirmed to EL MUNDO by the organization. Foment President Josep Sanchez Llibre is in Morocco from yesterday until Thursday, leading a commercial mission to the country, accompanied by about twenty companies, including representatives of Banco Sabadell, CaixaBank and Santander.

Although there is no meeting scheduled with Torres in the next few hours, the employers’ association Chekotwhich has a large presence in the Barcelona region of Valles Occidental (whose capital is shared by Sabadell and Terrassa), confirms that in recent weeks it has had contacts with representatives of both entities.

Convince Moncloa

Torres’s challenge is to attract political and business opinion in Catalonia, and to persuade Moncloa to change his position. To do this, he hired the services of Kreab, whose ranks include several former politicians from the PSOE orbit, and Acento, a public relations and lobbying consulting firm created by former Socialist minister José Blanco and also composed of former PSOE politicians. . socialists and popular.

They will initially face opposition, among others, from the Ministry of Economy, whose head, Carlos Bodi, has made it clear that the government has the “final say” on the merger and, as his speeches show, the executive branch is not there to carry out the operation.

If BBVA secures the support of 50.01% of Sabadell shareholders and obtains the necessary approvals from the competent supervisory and regulatory authorities – Bank of Spain, CNMV and CNMC – the Council of Ministers will still have the right to decide whether or on what basis to authorize the merger. conditions, and this is where one of the keys to this process lies.

The non-merger takeover scenario is an alternative that is under consideration and which no one dares rule out. BBVA has already announced through unofficial sources that it is ready to move forward even in such a scenario.