Spain's 2nd largest bank BBVA and smaller rival Banco Sabadell scrapped plans on Friday, November 27, for a tie-up that would have created a top player as the industry struggles in the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.although they stressed there was no certainty that it would be implemented.
"Banco Sabadell informs that the board of directors has decided to terminate the...discussions because the parties have not achieved an agreement on the exchange ratio of both entities," Sabadell said in a statement. For its part, BBVA said in a separate, brief statement that"discussions about a merger with Banco Sabadell concluding without reaching an accord."In September, Spain's CaixaBank and rival BankiaMidsized lenders Liberbank and Unicaja, meanwhile, confirmed renewed merger talks in October.
A tie-up between BBVA and Sabadell would have been 2nd in the ranking of assets by business in Spain, only behind CaixaBank-Bankia.