Banco Sabadell’s wayward director, David Martinez Guzman, has resigned after publicly disagreeing with the rest of the bank’s leadership over BBVA’s hostile takeover bid before it ultimately failed. Martinez Guzmán, who owns 3% of the entity’s capital and is its largest personal shareholder, decided to accept the offer submitted by the Basque Bank, to support his project to create a larger and more international entity, compared to the Sabadell project to continue on its own.
This difference of opinion regarding the offer caused a tense confrontation between Martinez Guzman and the bank, with CEO Cesar Gonzalez Bueno, at the helm of the bank. The Mexican investor voted against the board’s opinion to reject the offer and issued a dissenting vote separating himself from his arguments. While Sabadell considered that the offer made by BBVA underestimated the value of the bank, Martínez Guzmán considered that they gave too much importance to the price and not to the opportunity resulting from the long-term process, and also criticized political interference in the deal.
Likewise, he sent letters to González Bueno, who published this newspaper, in which they rejected accusations of the leadership of Sabadell of maintaining contacts with BBVA and being able to reverse their decision. He then defended, saying: “As a shareholder, I have no other interest than maximizing return on investment, and I recommend other shareholders seek independent professional advice rather than be guided by unfounded, incorrect or unverified information.”
News in development. There will be expansion