By Cristina Gallardo
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria said it has lowered the acceptance threshold for Banco Sabadell, as part of its $12 billion-plus hostile takeover of its smaller Spanish peer.
BBVA said Thursday that it modified its offer by reducing the minimum acceptance condition to "at least more than half" of the effective voting rights of Sabadell at the end of the offer acceptance period. This means the threshold will exclude the treasury shares that Sabadell may hold at that time, BBVA said.
The initial offer required acceptance by at least 50.01% of Sabadell's share capital.
BBVA went hostile in its bid to take over Sabadell in May after it encountered opposition from Sabadell's management. The deal is still pending approval from Spanish regulators and Sabadell's shareholders, while the Spanish government has also raised concerns over the bid.
Write to Cristina Gallardo at cristina.gallardo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-09-25 1300ET