British Banking Minnow TSB Is a Big Deal for Europe
Selling TSB could offer Sabadell an escape from BBVA’s takeover bid.
Blurring the picture: TSB could be sold by Sabadell, potentially thwarting the latter’s takeover by BBVA.
Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
Another day, another potential spanner in the works of European banking consolidation. Banco de Sabadell SA has had “preliminary non-binding expressions of interest” for its UK arm, TSB Banking Group Plc, it said late on Monday, confirming reports in the Financial Times. This offers a convenient defense against the Spanish bank’s pending €13 billion ($15 billion) takeover by BBVA SA — convenient because it’s very much against Spanish rules to shop parts of yourself around while subject to a formal bid.
For BBVA, a TSB offer could threaten the pricing and dynamics of its tender for Sabadell shares, expected to be launched next month. It will certainly muddy the waters for Sabadell investors. As in Italy, where an interlocking series of deals is turning into an unpickable Gordian knot, this Spanish situation risks becoming a stalemate, too.