MADRID Sabadell’s board will meet on Monday to discuss an all-share offer from larger Spanish bank BBVA that was worth around 12 billion euros (US$12.9 billion) when announced last week, two sources familiar with the matter said.

BBVA said on May 1 that it had proposed offering one newly issued share for every 4.83 Sabadell shares, a premium of 30% over the smaller bank’s April 29 closing price, to create one of the biggest lenders in the euro zone by market value.

The two Spanish banks called off previous merger talks in November 2020, as they could not agree on terms.

Sabadell, which said its board would assess the offer and lined up investment banking advisers Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to assess its options, declined to comment on Monday on the meeting, or its possible outcome.

The board could decide to formally enter into talks with BBVA, demand better terms or reject the proposal. One of the sources said it was not clear whether Sabadell’s board would take a decision and formally announce it on Monday.

The proposed deal would give Sabadell shareholders a 16% stake in the combined group and based on the May 3 closing prices of 9.850 euros for BBVA and 1.8850 euros for Sabadell, would be worth around 11 billion euros, a premium of about 8%.

Under BBVA’s offer, three members of Sabadell’s board of directors would join BBVA’s board as non-executive directors, with one acting as one of the vice-chairs of BBVA’s board.

At 0956 GMT, BBVA shares were down 0.7% at 9.78 euros. Sabadell’s were up 0.8% at 1.901 euros.

  - Reuters