Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S Sabadell Bank is looking to sell off the TSB Bank in the UK to strengthen its battle against the hostile €11 billion BBVA takeover bid.
Sabadell said it had received ‘preliminary non-binding expressions of interest’ for TSB from unnamed bidders, and would examine any potential binding offer.
It began the process after receiving interest in acquiring TSB from several parties and those potential buyers were due to submit offers this month.
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Among the possible buyers would be Barclays, NatWest, Santander UK and HSBC, according to the Financial Times, which said it was not clear who made an approach to Sabadell.
The money raised from a TSB sale could generate up to €2.3 billion.
Sabadell bought the British bank for around €2 billion in 2015 as part of a strategy to expand outside Spain.
Distributing some of the proceeds from the sale to its shareholders could help maintain their support amid the fight with BBVA.
The battle between Sabadell and BBVA has now run for over a year.
Spain’s government is against a merger and launched a full review last month with its findings set to be released soon.
The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has given the union the green light.
A BBVA-led merger would put it second amongst banks in Spain, behind CaixaBank but ahead of Santander.
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