David Martinez Guzman, the third shareholder of Banco Sabadell, and the largest individual investor, is leaving the bank’s board of directors, where he served as ownership director. “David Martinez Guzmán tendered his resignation from his position as a member of the Board of Directors through a letter addressed to the President (Juseppe Ollio), which was sent to all members at their meeting held on Thursday,” they explained in the statement sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
The businessman leaves the highest governance body of the entity, of which he has been part of for more than twelve years, a period in which he witnessed the “transformation of the bank” and takes advantage of the message to thank “the resounding success achieved by both the president and the competent teams that worked at the bank.” His voluntary departure comes about a month and a half after the failure of the takeover bid launched by BBVA for the Catalan entity, which Martinez publicly supported.
Indeed, it went for the offer of 3.8% of the capital it controlled, arguing that the transaction included “strategic benefits” beyond the price. This situation opened a gap in the board of directors of Sabadell, being the only one in favor of a possible union. Eugenio Herrera Terrazas, representing David Martinez and Fintech Advisory, explains to La Información Económica that this is “an independent decision and does not reflect the future prospects of the bank, which must continue to create value for shareholders through an attractive distribution profile.”
Disagreements Things started when Martinez distanced himself from the report sender By the highest corporate governance body for which the offer was rejected. the A difference of opinion between Martinez The rest of the members led to a verbal confrontation between the two parties. The “Aztec” investor, who was not much interested in public appearances, went so far as to publish a letter in which he distorted the attitude towards him on the part of the bank’s president, Josep Ollio, and the CEO, Cesar Gonzalez Bueno.
Once the outcome of the takeover bid was reached, which barely reached 25% support, the change in tone of the bank’s management team diminished, and they even admitted that they would apologize if “They gave him reasons to be upset.”. For his part, Martinez limited himself to congratulating the group based in Sabadell after a “long and arduous” process. Now one of the unknowns is whether he plans to stick around in the capital.
In a statement sent to Bloomberg a few weeks ago, the man nicknamed the “Ghost of Wall Street” confirmed that he “looks forward” to his intention to “participate in the bank’s continued success,” a message through which he indicates that he can maintain the stock package. It should be noted that Sabadell plans to distribute an interim dividend on December 29 of 0.07 euros per share, in addition to the exceptional payment of 0.5 euros per share, scheduled for distribution in March 2026, derived from the sale of TSB, its British subsidiary in the United Kingdom, to Banco Santander.
The businessman became a shareholder in Sabadell at the end of 2013 with 5% of the capital after investing $275 million in the expansion that took place at that time. Its entry occurred when the price was below the euro. With the market closing data on Thursday, it is trading above €3.1 and the revaluation in the year has accumulated by almost 70%, appearing among the ten highest Ibex values.
Despite this, hardly any details are known about his life or his connections to the Spanish financial institution. The truth is that Martinez is one of the most unknown fortunes in the Latin American financial world. One of the mogul’s moves that had major significance was the debt restructuring negotiations in Argentina after Corralito, but he also promoted the merger. Between Cablevisión and Telecom. This telecom and media group was Telefónica’s main competitor in the country until it exited the media with the sale of Telefé in 2016.