Seven years after moving its registered office to Alicante, Banco Sabadell has returned it to Catalonia. In the midst of BBVA's hostile takeover bid, the entity chaired by Josep Oliu approved it this Wednesday at its board of directors in an extraordinary meeting.
The financial entity has once again located its headquarters in Sabadell, specifically, in Sant Roc square. From now on, the shareholders' meeting will once again be held in the Catalan town, where the financial entity was founded in 1881.
Banco Sabadell was the first large company to announce its departure in 2017, due to the political crisis after the 1-O referendum. More than 4,000 companies did the same. At the end of last year, Cementos Molins also announced its return. The Sabadell board has considered that the time is appropriate to return to the place of origin "now that the circumstances that motivated its transfer" more than seven years ago "no longer exist."
Sabadell's decision coincides with BBVA's hostile takeover bid. After the announcement, sources from the Basque bank have remarked that the transfer of the registered office "does not change the advantages" of the takeover bid. "It is a decision of Banco Sabadell that we respect," said the same sources, who rule out that it affects the operation launched on the bank chaired by Oliu. Currently, the CNMV is analyzing the operation in a second phase due to the risks it poses to competition and credit reduction.
A decision celebrated from Catalonia
From the Catalan business scene, several of its prominent actors have applauded Sabadell's decision. The president of Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, has described Sabadell's return as a "great piece of news for Catalonia and for the Catalan economy," and has predicted that other "relevant companies" will take the same step.
From the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Josep Santacreu has celebrated the announcement, and has framed it as a "natural" movement, since Sabadell is an entity "historically linked to the financing of Catalan companies." The president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, has also positively valued the decision, which he has described as "coherent."
Salvador Illa: Sabadell's return confirms that Catalonia "is on the right track"Reactions have also come from the trade union sphere.The general secretary of CC.OO. of Catalonia, Javier Pacheco, has gone further and expressed confidence that other companies that moved their registered office out of Catalonia will choose to "make the same decisions." From UGT, its general secretary, Pepe Álvarez, has framed the entity's return "within a normal situation."
Not only the economic sphere has celebrated the move, but also the institutional one. The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has maintained that Sabadell's return confirms that Catalonia "is on the right track." For his part, the Minister of Economy and Commerce, Carlos Cuerpo, has defended that it is a logical move that responds to a "process of normalization in Catalonia."
In the same vein, the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, has applauded the decision, as it represents "a message of confidence in Catalonia, in Barcelona and in the future of the economy". On the contrary, the president of the Valencian Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, has regretted the move, and has framed it within the BBVA's offensive. "Inevitably, this operation is in a context of a situation of weakness and a takeover bid," the Valencian president asserted.
Just as it has moved its registered office, the board of directors has reinforced its commitment to Alicante and the Valencian Community, where it will maintain its current offices and professionals and the Technology Competence Center. In addition, it will move meetings such as the annual meeting of Advisory Councils to the city.