Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BME:BBVA)
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Apr 24, 2026, 5:39 PM CET
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M&A Announcement

Sep 5, 2025

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Regulation DORA that are elevating technological expenses even further. For example, you see it on the page, our technology expenses in BBVA Spain, only in Spain, have already increased by 11% from 2023- 2024 and have now exceeded the EUR 1.1 billion level. As we also mentioned in the past, most of these costs are fixed costs, which implies that whether you have 100 customers or 1,000 customers, you have to incur these high and growing expenses more or less at the same level. After this transaction, we don't need to spend such high amounts twice to create the same functionalities, same products as two different banks serving the same market. Third, on page six, the next page, this transaction represents a combination of very complementary businesses. Banco Sabadell, as you all know, is clearly overrepresented in the SME segment and BBVA in retail and in corporates.

During 2024, these market positions, they have further improved. Thus, this merger will create a stronger entity, combining the complementary strength of each resulting bank in a more balanced portfolio, especially for Banco Sabadell. Lastly, the fourth driver, BBVA's global reach, BBVA's global reach will mean an enhanced offer for Banco Sabadell's SME and enterprise clients with a full product suite across a wider geographical network. BBVA is already a cross-border bank. In fact, as you can see on the page, we are creating more than EUR 2 billion in revenues from the overseas businesses of our clients beyond their home country. Our new strategic plan puts further focus on the enterprise clients and the cross-border business, which will lead to higher value creation from Banco Sabadell's client franchise.

On page seven, from the first day, we also claimed that this is a transaction that benefits all the key stakeholders: clients with a better offer, the society with a larger lending capacity of an additional EUR 5.4 billion after the realization of full synergies due to the efficiency of the resulting entity, and the employees with opportunities in a leading global bank setting. Our conviction on the matter is further reinforced with the commitments we have put on the table as part of the regulatory clearance process and also beyond. I don't want to go into the details as you have the full list of commitments in the link highlighted at the footnote of this page. In short, for the protection of clients, we have put forward an unprecedented set of volume and price guarantees, ensuring continued affordable access to credit for our clients.

For territorial cohesion and support for communities, we reiterated our strong commitment with the key territories, Catalonia, Valencia, Asturias, where Banco Sabadell has a large presence. For example, by keeping the headquarters in Sant Cugat, further growing the hub in Barcelona for startups, and maintaining all the social activity through Sabadell Foundations. Now, moving to page number eight and to the second chapter where we claim that BBVA is, as Carlos also mentioned, a great entity to partner with for Sabadell shareholders. Why do we claim so? Page eight shows that in growth on one axis, and we have shown this page in the past, but it's an important page in our view, in growth on one axis and in profitability on the other, BBVA has a unique profile among the top European banks.

This means that Sabadell shareholders who join this project will become owners of a European bank with the highest growth and profitability ratios. Our long growth, which then drives our future earnings, far exceeds our competitors, and our return on tangible equity ratio measuring profitability was 20% in 2024, way ahead of anyone else in this map. On page nine, as you know, in the quarterly calls, we discuss this quite frequently, but beyond return on tangible equity as a measure of profitability, we care a lot about tangible book value creation, which incorporates everything, which incorporates everything from depreciation of currencies to changes in the valuation of our securities portfolio. This is a simple measure of how much real value is created for the shareholder. This number then enables dividend and share price growth as well.

Given the fact that we operate in many countries in a diversified way, and given the fact that we own one of the best, if not the best banks in the countries where we operate, whatever timeframe that you pick, 15 years, 10 years, or five years, BBVA has delivered much better value to its shareholders, and we are convinced that we will continue to do so. As a result of these facts, on page 10, BBVA's unique profile and the delivery have been recognized by the market, implying an exceptional return to our shareholders as compared to competition. It's a simple chart, but EUR100 invested in BBVA shares at the beginning of 2019 is worth EUR497 as of yesterday, a 397% appreciation. This 397% appreciation compares to 341% in the case of Banco Sabadell, or around 200% for European banks or for Spanish banks.

On page 11, as we recently showed to you in our second quarter results presentation, we claim that the exceptional track record of BBVA is here to stay with the announced goals of 2025- 2028. For example, we have put forward a goal, I don't want to go through all of them because we have just recently revised it with you, but we have put forward a goal of 22% for our return on tangible equity, which will further enhance the leadership position of BBVA within the European banking sector. It is worth mentioning here that after the transaction, the percentage-based goals here, the profitability, efficiency, tangible book value per share plus dividends growth, they will stay around these exceptional levels only at a larger and better scale.

Moving on to the third chapter on page 12 and coming back to the transaction and to the critical question of why we think there's a significant value creation potential in this transaction, obviously the important notion of synergies. After further review of the potential levers based on our previous experience, we now expect post-merger total pre-tax synergies of EUR 900 million per year, an increase of EUR 50 million versus the original plan. These synergies are split between EUR 65 million in funding synergies, slightly reduced versus the original plan due to the recent refinancings in the wholesale funding portfolio of Banco Sabadell and the changing spreads versus last year, and an improved EUR 835 million of cost synergies, of which EUR 510 million are general and administrative OpEx savings and EUR 325 million are personnel cost savings.

The cost synergies are equivalent to 13.5% of the combined cost base of BBVA Spain and Banco Sabadell, excluding TSB, and the restructuring costs would amount to EUR 1.45 billion pre-tax, of which nearly 96% will be booked in the year of the merger. Moving to page 13 on the expected timeline of these synergies, although the amount of fully phased synergies increased, as I mentioned in the previous page, we now expect those synergies to come in with a delay due to the restriction imposed by the Council of Ministers. Despite this restriction, though, our expectation is such that the fully phased-in synergies would be delayed by one year only versus the original scenario. In the original scenario, you are expecting the full synergies to kick in in the third year, 2028, much later than the legal merger, as we needed to prepare for the integration of systems technically.

In this current scenario, we are planning to do all the preparations before the legal merger takes place, allowing us to realize the full synergies in the year immediately after the merger. Therefore, as you see in the chart, in 2029. Also, it's important to highlight here that in the years before the merger, we believe that some of the synergies can still be realized with levers such as, obviously, the review of contractual terms with suppliers due to enhanced scale, improvements in banking operations and productivity, with near-term savings in operations of Sabadell outside Spain, and best practices implementation on selected functional areas. To be more specific, we anticipate the materialization of EUR 175 million in cost synergies during the second year post-transaction, which is expected to coincide with the calendar year 2027.

Funding synergies will be incrementally added to this, leading to EUR 235 million of synergies during the third year, 2028. Once again, immediately after the merger, which is expected to take place at the end of 2028 or at the beginning of 2029, we expect to materialize the remaining annual synergies in the fourth year, 2029, again reaching EUR 900 million of total pre-tax annual synergies at steady state. Moving to page 14 and beginning the chapter on the highly attractive offer to Banco Sabadell shareholders. The significant synergies just explained allow us to present an extremely attractive offer to Banco Sabadell shareholders. Adjusting the initial offer after different dividends paid by both Sabadell and BBVA, the offer at the moment stands at one BBVA share and EUR 0.07 for each 5.5483 Sabadell shares.

Let me also remind you that the offer is conditioned on achieving a minimum acceptance of more than 50% of voting rights. It's very important. With the passage of time, and as our offer is based mainly on BBVA share price, which has improved since the disclosure of the merger discussions, the value of our offer, as Carlos also mentioned, has significantly increased. In fact, since the end of April 29, 2024, the day of the undisturbed price, the value of the offer has increased by 43% from EUR 12.2 billion- EUR 17.4 billion. On page 15, you can compare this with the historical value of Banco Sabadell. You can see the historical evolution of Banco Sabadell market cap since 2015 on this page.

As you can see, in the last two columns on the right, representing the value of our offer on April 29, 2024, and at the closing price of yesterday, we are now offering the highest valuation for Banco Sabadell in more than a decade. This extraordinary value offered to Banco Sabadell shareholders goes back to the positive evolution of BBVA share price, together with the extraordinary premium we have offered to Banco Sabadell shareholders. Again, on page 16, you see that premium extended for Banco Sabadell shareholders significantly exceeds those observed in comparable recent tender offers within the European banking sector. This is evidenced by a 30% premium relative to the undisturbed price and a 42% premium when measured against the average closing price of the month preceding April 29.

The recent banking tender offers highlighted here, as all of you know, some of them are already finalized with success, they all happened with much lower premiums. Moving to page 17, as also Carlos Torres Vila mentioned at the beginning, we believe the opportunity for Banco Sabadell shareholders is now. By accepting this offer, Banco Sabadell shareholders will be tendering their shares at extraordinarily high price levels, as you can see in the page as well, with an acceleration of price increases, especially in the very near past. We believe one of the core reasons for this near-term share price increase is that share prices of Banco Sabadell are obviously affected by our offer. You see clear evidence of this on page 18. On this page, we show how the correlation between BBVA's and Banco Sabadell's share price has increased significantly after the announcement of the deal 16 months ago.

With those affected prices on page 19, you can see that analysts, all of you, that you continue to forecast an upside for BBVA's share price, while the contrary is true for Banco Sabadell. With respect to the median of all target prices recently updated after the second quarter 2025 results presentations of each bank, by you, by all of you, the independent analyst community, the upside for BBVA's share price is 8% above current levels. In contrast, for Sabadell, analysts' main target price for Sabadell stands below current pricing levels. This theme is also evidenced on page 20 when we look into the market multiples like P/E, where we look into the price of the share as a multiple of its earnings, obviously.

As you can see in the chart, before the merger discussions were disclosed on April 29, 2024, BBVA traded at a premium versus European banks, while Sabadell traded at a discount. However, since the disclosure of discussions on April 29, Sabadell is trading at a premium versus main European banks, while BBVA is trading at a discount, implying in the same sense as in the previous page, upside potential for BBVA, also for Sabadell shareholders who obviously tender their shares, and downward correction possibility for Sabadell's share price. These are just hypotheses. The market is the market, and there are complicated dynamics, as you all know, around reading of the market figures. We believe, in short, we have extended an unbeatable offer to Sabadell shareholders, which further improved with the passage of time, which positively supports Sabadell's share price at the moment.

Moving to the important, very important page of 21 and the positive financial impacts for both BBVA and Sabadell shareholders. As we have said many times before, this combination is highly accretive for both BBVA and Sabadell shareholders. Its significant estimated EPS growth of post-merger, 5% for BBVA shareholders and 25% for Sabadell shareholders. If Sabadell shareholders tender their shares, their future earnings capacity, which then drives the intrinsic value of their shares, will be 25% higher. On page 22, coming to the end, there is a limited capital impact of the transaction with - 34 basis points impact in CET1 ratio at closing and the + 26 basis points impact after the TSB sale and the TSB extraordinary dividend payment, assuming obviously a 100% takeup. All included, the return on the investment resulting from the transaction is above 20% for BBVA shareholders.

Consistent, obviously, with our messaging all along, this deal compares favorably against the return of a share buyback aligned with our discipline around capital allocation. Finally, on slide 23, the last page of the presentation, we have included a summary of the expected timeline of the offer based on the previous transactions. In the prospectus of the offer, you can find the maximum legally mandated dates, but our estimate is for the acceptance period, again, to begin next Monday with a duration of 30 days. The publication of the result of the offer to happen on October 14, followed by the settlement of the offer on October 17 or October 20. Now, without further delay, we can move to the Q&A. Patricia.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yes, thank you very much, Carlos and Onur. We are ready now to start the Q&A. Operator, please, the first question. Operator?

Hello.

Operator

Sorry, guys.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah.

Operator

To ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two. If you're preparing to ask your question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. In the interest of time, please can we ask for all participants to ask one question, and if you have a follow-up, please rejoin the question queue. Our first question comes from Max Mission from JB Capital. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Max Mission
Analyst, JB Capital

Hello, good morning. Thank you very much for the presentation and taking our questions. One question for me. What was the reason for asking the U.S. SEC to unify the rules with Spain? Have you reconsidered your intentions regarding reaching at least 50.01% stake in Banco Sabadell? As a follow-up here, theoretically, could you settle with a stake below 30%, or are there any legal impediments to this? Thank you.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

All right, thank you. Thank you, Max. There is really no change versus what the Spanish law establishes, really, in what the waiver represents. The reason for the waiver requests to the U.S. SEC that you referred to, and there were several of them, is that they seek to align for ease of operational purposes for the tender to proceed smoothly. The calendars and things like that, which are different in the two legislations. There's really nothing more than that. As it regards the percentage, it's very clear that, as Onur mentioned, our offer is conditioned to reaching a 50% minimum acceptance level. That condition is there for a reason, which is that we want to do this transaction to control the bank.

Therefore, we do not intend to waive that minimum acceptance condition, which is compatible with the waiver seeking compatibility, sort of alignments, sorry, between the timelines in Spain and in the U.S.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, Max. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Francisco Riquel from Alantra. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Francisco Riquel
Partner & Head of Equity Research, Alantra

Yes, thank you for the presentation. My question is, why do you think the Sabadell opportunity needs to be captured now? I mean, in this context, I wonder what is the return on invested capital of the transaction without synergies? Don't you think it is better buying back your own shares and then launch the full bid for Sabadell whenever conditions allow in three years or earlier? Don't you think that BBVA should outperform Sabadell in the next few years, given your standalone strategic plan, and do the offer would be more favorable later down the road? Thank you.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you. Thank you, Francisco. Onur, you want to answer this one?

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

I mean, there are different pieces in it, but Paco, in terms of how does this compare to share buyback, I mentioned it during the presentation as well. Again, we repeat this quite often, but it is important to us as the management team, which is we compare capital as a scarce resource, and everything that demands capital has to be ranked against each other. We compare this to a share buyback, and what our numbers are telling us, as we also mentioned here, the marginal ROIC is more than 20%, is better than a share buyback opportunity. It is a great opportunity in that sense, but also the strategic rationale that we have gone through. I will only mention one simple thing. I mean, there are so many numbers around this and so on, but a very simple thing. We put it in the first few pages.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria spends EUR 1.1 billion in technology every year in Spain, EUR 1.1 billion. We don't know exactly the number of Banco Sabadell, but something similar given their size and so on. That EUR1.1 billion, is it large enough? The profit potential of Banco Sabadell is EUR 1.6 billion. The synergies that we are putting on the table are EUR 900 million as compared to that EUR 1.6 billion earnings capacity of Banco Sabadell. Quite a large number. Why are we serving the same market with two different systems, two different brands, and everything? There is a huge, huge synergy potential here, which we think can benefit both shareholders. It is benefiting our shareholders, as we mentioned to you, in terms of the ROIC, and it is an amazing deal for the Banco Sabadell shareholders. Why not do it now? That's the whole rationale around this.

We already have the deal up and running. It is a great offer with a lot of value creation potential. Let's get it done. In terms of timing, maybe, Carlos, Paco is basically asking, why are you doing it now rather than later?

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

I think you covered it very well. It's a very unique opportunity now with valuations at the highest level in well more than a decade. Two banks that are in their best moment, imagine what we can do together, no? Plus all the synergies that come. It's really an invitation to join a leading European banking project.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah, Paco, I will ask the question back to you. If it's great for our shareholders, if it's great for Banco Sabadell shareholders, why not do it now?

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you. Thank you very much, Paco. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Antonio Ruette from Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Antonio Ruette
Analyst, Bank of America Corporation

Hi, good morning. Thanks for the presentation. It's Antonio from Bank of America. I just have a quick one, and I'm sorry if it's a bit of a repetition because I think you've addressed it to some extent. I mean, you talked about fundamentals, and it's very clear your position. I then look at the market, and what the market is telling me today is if I look at the spreads, BBVA and Banco Sabadell, of course, they move daily, and things may be affected by different factors. As things stand, they still seem to be implying an improvement of the offer. Now, you've increased the synergies. You've shown that your return on invested capital is in excess of 20% for a deal that, as you've talked, of course, has an industrial logic and is a domestic transaction.

I wonder where the frontier for value creation lies for you, and also, how does the disposal of TSB affect your rationale here? If I understood right, I think you're saying it will have a positive impact on capital. I was under the impression this would be overall neutral for you, but I'd just like to hear your thoughts. Thank you.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

The numbers on capital, I think, are quite clear. At closing of the public tender offer, it'll be 34 basis points with 100% acceptance. Of course, the lower the acceptance, the impact rises proportionately. I think it's 34 basis points for 100%, 49 basis points for a 50% takeup. Later on, the impact is actually positive because of the disposal you mentioned. Regarding your comments on where the market stands, that has been the case for a while, and we have been quite consistent that we have presented a very attractive offer, a highly attractive offer. It was very good at inception, and it's become even better now with the evolution of the share price. Certainly, Banco Sabadell has also had, as Onur went through these slides very clearly, it's trading at historical maximums, or more than a decade at least.

A big reason for that has to do with the fact that there is an offer outstanding. The offer is the offer, and we expect Banco Sabadell shareholders to see the attractiveness of the offer and the project that goes with it. It's not just the premium today, but the participation they will have in the combined entity, and therefore, the synergies that will also accrue to them. Maybe the number that summarizes it all is the 25% EPS accretion. Onur, I don't know if you're looking for it.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

I was going to add that 25% EPS upgrade. The 25% EPS upgrade for Sabadell shareholders, in our view, is the number to be looked into. You ask whether the TSB sale affects, no, TSB sale is part of the bank. Whether it's in the form of cash or in the form of the asset, it's the same part of the bank. It doesn't affect the rationale of the transaction. It doesn't affect the numbers. The capital number you also asked, Antonio, the capital, because if you take over TSB or the proceeds coming from TSB, it's positive. There's excess capital there, and it'll be affecting the capital figures positively, obviously.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, Antonio. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Benjamin Toms from RBT. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Benjamin Toms
Analyst, RBC Capital Markets

Morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. It actually comes back to that capital point. On an ex-TSB sale basis, the old CET1, day one expected impact was 51 basis points, I think. Now that's fallen to 34 basis points. In both instances, that was assuming a 100% takeup. Can you just give some color on why the CET1 impact has come down on an ex-TSB sale basis, please? Thank you.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Benjamin, ex-TSB, as compared to the original versions that you are referring to, the 51 basis points was the original number that you are referring to. You would see it in the waterfall that the restructuring charges are now delayed. The restructuring charges will not be accounted in the upfront capital impact because they are going to be coming in, as we also mentioned in the presentation, in 2029. That is the base case that we have. That is the key difference, basically.

Luisa Gómez Bravo
CFO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

I would like to, sorry, Onur, add a little bit of color onto the answer. I think the 51 basis points, as you mentioned correctly, is the last information that we provided in the F4. Primarily, aside from what Onur was saying, there is an impact that we are not including in the numbers, the restructuring costs. We were including them because these will take place later on and we're doing a fully loaded on back of the numbers.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Originally, it was 15, 16 basis points.

Luisa Gómez Bravo
CFO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Correct. That is not there. Obviously, as well, I would highlight that primarily we've updated the numbers to the last June numbers, and we've done also updating the basis of the underlying sensitivities, which are different because obviously our CET1 numbers are also higher. I think that basically I would highlight that the main difference is again the restructuring cost and the basis of the underlying update of the numbers.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, Benjamin. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Cecilia Romero in Barclays. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Cecillia Romero
Analyst, Barclays

Thank you very much for taking my question. If I'm not mistaken, BBVA's interim dividend usually goes ex-date in early October. Should we expect this year payment to proceed on the same timetable? If so, will this trigger a revision of the offer terms, or are Sabadell shareholders who tend to expect it to receive this on top? Could you refresh our memory until when under Spanish takeover rules you are able to change the terms of the offer? If you were to revise the offer, how would that affect the length or timing of the acceptance period? Thank you.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Interim dividend, maybe?

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Interim dividend, yeah. Luisa, do you want to take it? Why not?

Luisa Gómez Bravo
CFO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you. I think that what we are estimating now is that with the calendar that we have on board, it is important that we have the VTO finalized. If you've had the opportunity, I'm sure you have in detail read the prospectus that we are going to be waiting for the VTO to end and the deal to settle. Once the deal settles in terms of shares, we will proceed with the payment of the interim dividend. We expect that timing to be now towards the end of October, during the second half of October.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

On the other questions, a bit detailed, and I wouldn't want to miss it, so we would like to revert to the lawyers. I believe there is, depending on which terms change, three or five days. I think it's five days, if I'm not mistaken, in the ROIC decree, five days for changing to the terms of the offer. That would imply, I think, a suspension of the period for CNMV to analyze what the change has been. During that suspension, the acceptance period would not, the time would not run. It would just continue to run afterwards. If I'm not mistaken, but take this, I don't know if you guys know better, Luisa or Onur or Vicky.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Based on the SEC, there might be, we have to do the improvement 10 days before.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

The question, I think, was Spanish law.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah.

Luisa Gómez Bravo
CFO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

It's five, in the five calendar days.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Both laws will apply here. In any case, we don't consider that as a base case, and we don't need to do that. I mean, we mentioned it many times before, also in the second quarter call. We think this is a great deal. We talked about the synergies, we talked about value creation, we talked about technology costs. I don't know, many months ago, I called it a textbook transaction. It's a straightforward consolidation within the market with the approval of the CNMC and the Competition Antitrust Authority. It's a textbook consolidation. It does create value for both shareholders, as we also have shown today to you with numbers. I would repeat what we said in the second quarter call. We respect Sabadell a lot. It's an amazing bank, and that's why we are trying to get the deal done.

The total expected profits of Sabadell going forward is EUR1.6 billion. If you remember, our standalone plan announced at the end of July, EUR 48 billion in four years, on average EUR 12 billion. EUR 12 billion and EUR 1.6 billion. We would love to get the deal done, but if the deal doesn't happen for any reason, fine, we move on. We have a plan to deliver. I consider it as a major liability for BBVA to deliver those numbers that we announced to you at the end of July. If the deal happens, great for both shareholders, wonderful. If it doesn't happen, we have a job to deliver, to deliver those EUR 12 billion that we commit to the market. As we say in Spanish, no pasa nada if it doesn't happen. If it doesn't happen, we move on.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, Cecilia. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Carlos Peixoto from CaixaBank. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Carlos Peixoto
Analyst, CaixaBank

Yes, hi. Thank you for taking my questions. Carlos Peixoto from CaixaBank here. My question would actually be on what were the reasons behind the upgrades in synergies? I noticed that actually funding cost synergies are slightly down versus the initial announcement, but overall, synergies are a bit higher. What were the main rationale behind that? The second part is basically, given the improvement in the overall expected synergies, what was behind your decision not to share at least part of that improvement with Banco Sabadell's shareholders through an improvement in the offer? Was it just because of the fact that the timeline for execution was delayed by a year? Just trying to understand that as well. Thank you very much.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Oh, we're talking about the synergies?

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

On the first one, Carlos, as we mentioned, there are two sides to the synergies. Let's compare the original plan, initial plan, and today. The funding synergies used to be EUR 100 million. Now they are EUR 65 million. Why is the change? There have been some 16 months passed since the initial offer. In this period, there have been some refinancings. Some of those securities have been refinanced already with a new price. More importantly, the spreads between the rating of Banco Sabadell and the rating of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, the spreads have been narrowing down. Given its lower volume because of refinancings and given the spread change, the EUR 100 million has become now EUR 65 million, looking again into the depreciation schedule of these securities. We have increased the cost synergies, the cost savings from EUR 750 million -EUR 835 million. There are two sub-reasons for this.

Number one, the base has changed. If you go back to the May 2024 presentation, as percent of the cost base, we were putting 13%, now it's 13.5%. Not a major change as a percentage. The cost base of both banks has increased. As a result, there is a bit more coming from the base impact. Second, we have relooked into all the different levers on how to get those numbers, which slightly, in real terms, have increased those synergies from EUR 750 million to EUR 835 million. EUR 835 million more EUR 65 million funding, EUR 900 million in total.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah, and regarding the offer, I think we were quite clear already in prior answers and the latest one from Onur regarding the fact that the offer is a very attractive offer for the shareholders of Banco Sabadell. It was already at the beginning and it continues to be with the evolution of values that we have seen in the market. Therefore, we stand with the offer that's on the table, which is the offer that we would like, and we invite shareholders of Banco Sabadell to accept. We see no reason to change that. That is why it remains the same offer as in the beginning, which is valued at a much higher value now.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, Carlos. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Britta Schmidt from Autonomous Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Britta Schmidt
Analyst, Autonomous Research

Yeah, hi, thank you for taking my question. It's back on the capital. There's a comment in the slide deck that the proceeds of the TSB deal are expected to be reinvested in shares of the combined entity. Does that mean that you would devote these proceeds to share buybacks and that the 60 basis points of TSB sale accretion would be paid out instead of accruing to capital and possibly generate a little bit more EPS accretion? Thank you.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

I think you're referring to the slide in which we calculate the accretion, in which we are using as an assumption.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah, that differential, what do we do with it? It's basically part of the excess capital that's going to accumulate on top of the excess capital that we will have, as we said also in July.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

We return it back to the shareholders.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you, Britta. Next question, please.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Maybe just to be clear, the hypothesis behind the way we have calculated those accretion numbers is that the only buyback we are doing is the one coming from the dividend of TSB. That's it, right?

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Which does not mean that there will not be more buybacks. There will be. All the excess capital will be bought back. It's just that we're not including that number into the accretion number, no.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

The only other thing is the EUR 1 billion that we have already.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Oh, the EUR 1 billion that has already been part of the distribution.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

It's going to be done, yeah.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah, the one that we have had to wait until the end of the acceptance period. That EUR 1 billion, which has already been, it's part of the distributions of last year's profits, actually. That one is already, that one is also included in the calculation.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah. You can find all these details, Britta, in the footnote of page 21. You have it all, which is what is included and what is not.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Hugo Cruz from KBW. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hugo Cruz
Analyst, KBW

Hello, thank you for the time. The slide with the synergies, perhaps I misunderstood something, but is it realistic to assume a big increase between 2028 and 2029? It looks like you go from EUR 235 million to EUR 900 million of synergies. That jump, if I understood well, in just one year, just seems too high. I was wondering if you could break out, break up that jump into the various components. Thank you.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Hugo, I'm not sure that I got the full question, but in the timeline you see it, what we are seeing is the merger, the legal merger, is expected to happen at the end of 2028 or at the beginning of 2029. Immediately after the merger, again, different from the original plan, given the fact that we have three years to prepare for that IT integration merger, especially, immediately after the legal merger, we would be able to execute those merger plans that we were discussing even in the original plan, especially around technology. In the immediate year after the legal merger, which is 2029, we will be getting the EUR 900 million. That EUR 900 million, you're asking for the breakdown, is the EUR 65 million is the funding synergies, and EUR 835 million is the cost synergies.

This EUR 835 million and EUR 65 million, you would see in the previous years to the legal merger, again, it's on page 20, EUR 235 million, all the EUR 900 million, EUR 900 million is the total figure, but EUR 235 million of the EUR 900 million can still be, in our view, realized even before the legal merger in year number three. That's the detail which is again explained on page 20. I hope it's clear.

Hugo Cruz
Analyst, KBW

Sorry, if I can, for example, the staff costs, you know, the EUR 325 million, I mean, can you basically cut them all in one go after the legal merger?

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah, exactly. That's the plan. One year after the legal merger, throughout the one year after the legal merger in 2029, we believe we can get that EUR 900 million. EUR 825 million is the cost synergies. Within that, EUR 325 million, as you said, is the personnel savings, which we believe we can be able to get because we will be preparing for that program, for that restructuring three years before we execute it.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

I think the key element is the prep that happens in the years leading up to that point, so execution can be right after the merger.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, Hugo. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Agnesio Bougari from BNP Paribas. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Ignacio Gárate
Analyst, BNP Paribas

Thanks very much. This is Ignacio Gárate from BMPX. Yes, I have just one question. In your EPS calculation for 2029, have you considered any impact from unwinding of the existing Sabadell joint ventures? I mean, I assume that that will only take place when the merger happens. We shouldn't expect anything up until 2029. Is that correct? Thank you.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Unwinding of the joint ventures is solid in the PPA. Do you want to take it, Luisa?

Luisa Gómez Bravo
CFO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yes. As you know, as part of the capital impact and the exercise that we'll be carrying out, we haven't changed the assumptions that we had when we announced the tender offer. As you know, we are including already a fair value of the joint ventures, but also the breakup costs deriving from the joint ventures, with our estimates, with the view that we have. Obviously, once the deal gets done, we will update everything in that sense. In summary, it has been incorporated in the numbers in terms of capital impacts and so forth.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

There is a change of ownership clause that we expect to remain in some of those JV agreements, Nacio, especially in the pension and insurance one. We upfront put those in the PPA and we take them into account. In the restructuring number of EUR 1.4 billion in year 2029, we don't foresee any other charge for JV breakups or whatever. We will be looking into them throughout the process. At the moment, we put an upfront capital charge to insurance and pension because they are JVs and there might be a change of ownership clause in those agreements. We don't know, we want it to be conservative. For 2029 plus, we are not putting any new number on top.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, Nacio. Next question, please.

Operator

Our next question comes from Pablo de la Torre Cuevas from RBC. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Pablo de la Torre Cuevas
Analyst, RBC Capital Markets

Thank you for taking my question. Just two follow-ups on Nacho's and a previous question as well. On the joint ventures, I think slide 22 mentions that the asset management and custody joint ventures are not included in the capital impact. I think reading the prospectus, the text suggests that they are included in all the capital impacts. Just clarifying this small point. If you could just, Luisa, repeat the capital impact of the restructuring charges to get the like-for-like view versus the previous numbers. Thank you.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

On the first one, Pablo, the custody and asset management, they are not joint ventures. They are distribution agreements that they have with selected partners. That's why for the real joint ventures, there is a company and there is a shared ownership of that company and so on, which is insurance and pension. On those, we included all the numbers upfront, again in the PPA and so on. Asset management and custody, they are distribution agreements. That's why they are not included and there is no conflict between the prospectus and what we were saying before. The second question?

Luisa Gómez Bravo
CFO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah, with regards to restructuring costs, in the offer that we announced, there were, like Onur said before, around 16 basis points of impact from restructuring costs. If I were to calculate that number today, again, it's not included in the capital impacts, but because it's going to happen in 2029, in the same way we're not including synergies in the capital impacts, what we would have is an impact of around 11 basis points. Why is that? Because again, the bases are different and we have more capital now. When you're looking at the numbers, the numbers, the restructuring costs are the same, but when you look at it from a capital sensitivity point of view, it's a lower number just because the base is larger.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, Pablo. Next question, please.

Operator

As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. Our next question is a follow-up question from Britta Schmidt from Autonomous Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Britta, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Britta Schmidt
Analyst, Autonomous Research

Sorry, there we are. Thanks for taking my follow-up. Just on the fair value adjustments, could you just help us with the EUR billion number that you've used for your calculations? A brief follow-up on the synergies. Have you reflected anything for the Spanish banking tax, or how have you reflected it, and what would you expect, if it still applied, the impact to be in a pre-versus-post-merger scenario? Thank you.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

You want to take the PPA?

Luisa Gómez Bravo
CFO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Okay, yeah, sure. With regards to the price purchase allocation, the first, as you well remembered, Britta, we mentioned when we announced the deal that we were estimated around EUR 2 billion of PPAs. Now, basically, there have been three changes that we've incorporated in our numbers today. One is the updated prices that we have and the updated public information. Obviously, there has been now information that needs to be updated on the prices of level one assets in terms of what Banco Sabadell is disclosing in their figures. That has been obviously taken into account. There are another two things that we've taken into account. The rest, by the way, remains more or less the same. One has to do with the intangibles, right?

At the time, we were considering a fairly quick merger, and we were within the PPA writing of, writing down the software intangibles of the platform of technology of Banco Sabadell. That number now has not been written down. We have basically adjusted that EUR 2 billion number for the intangibles coming from the software that we had written down initially, and now we're not writing down because obviously we still need that technology going forward. That's one relevant impact. I would say that's the most relevant impact. The second impact has to do with tax impacts because at the time, we had an assumption that it was going to be a very quick merger and we wouldn't be able to incorporate the tax losses coming from Banco Sabadell, and now that's not the case.

Net-net, what we are looking now is an impact on the PPA that's been incorporated in the capital numbers that moves from EUR 2 billion to approximately EUR 800 million. Having said that, I would just like to highlight as well the same things that we said at the time. First of all, this is a simplified PPA exercise. It has obviously our assumptions. We don't have the public information. We don't have public information. When we do the deal, we'll have the access and we'll do a proper full PPA. The second thing is that even then, we will still have a year, according to the NISP, to be able to adjust that PPA if, you know, during that period we need to. Again, EUR 2 billion coming down to EUR 800 million, primarily because of, you know, updates and tangibles of software and tax impacts.

Simplified PPA, we will have one year to review that after we take control of Banco Sabadell.

Onur Genç
CEO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Very good. The second detailed question, Britta, is that, as you know, the extraordinary banking tax is extraordinary and is for a period of three years. Sabadell standalone or Sabadell as part of the combined entity, but as an independent entity within the next three years, it doesn't change the tax payments. As a result, it's not included as a separate value creation lever.

Patricia Bueno
Head of Investor and Shareholder Relations, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Thank you very much, all of you. This was the last question, so we leave it here. Thank you for joining this audio webcast. I now turn it over to Carlos for the final remark.

Carlos Torres Vila
Chairman, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Yeah, I would like to raise the key messages for today, which is that the combination of BBVA and Banco Sabadell has an even stronger strategic rationale than when we announced the offer, as we have shown, with significant value creation through synergies. After all approvals, Banco Sabadell shareholders now have the opportunity to accept over the coming month our highly attractive offer with a current equivalent value for Banco Sabadell at the highest of more than a decade. With that, they can enjoy an EPS accretion of more than 25%. We trust they will appreciate the merits of our offer and the sustained value creation potential of our joint project. We thank you very much for your attention, for your questions, and wish you a very good weekend.

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