Onur Genç (BBVA) underscores the appeal of the Banco Sabadell transaction to investors in New York
BBVA's CEO spoke on Tuesday at the 2025 Barclays Annual Global Financials Conference in New York. In his speech, Onur Genç reminded attendees that for Banco Sabadell shareholders, the integration with BBVA will mean a 25 percent¹ increase in earnings per share after the merger. Genç emphasized that the offer is highly attractive for Sabadell shareholders: it represents the highest valuation for Sabadell in more than a decade; the initial premium is well above other recent banking-sector tender offers in Europe; and the value of the offer has increased by 43 percent since merger discussions were disclosed, driven by the strong performance of BBVA's share price.
Onur Genç explained that the offer to purchase Banco Sabadell shares was initiated with a clear purpose: to bring together two leading banks in Spain, a very attractive market. First, the goal is to consolidate two well-established banks, strengthening competitiveness and the ability to serve customers. Second, the larger scale will allow for more efficient technology investments, achieving economies of scale. He noted that banking is increasingly becoming a technology business, and scale will be a decisive factor for success. Digitization, artificial intelligence, and regulations such as DORA on resilience, cybersecurity, and data protection are pushing technology costs to new highs. This evolution will further benefit larger local institutions, reinforcing scale as a key factor in achieving high profitability. As he emphasized, “this transaction will not duplicate investments to serve the same market.”
Beyond efficiency, the integration of the banks is all about complementarity. Banco Sabadell brings its unique strength in SMEs, while BBVA adds its leadership in retail and corporates. In addition, BBVA's global reach will open new opportunities for Sabadell's SME and corporate clients, with a full product suite across all markets.
Genç emphasized that BBVA's strong track record and excellent prospects make it the ideal partner. By joining this project, Banco Sabadell shareholders would become part of one the most profitable banks in Europe, and one of the fastest-growing in lending. In this regard, Genç recalled BBVA's mid-term goals for 2025-2028, estimates that do not include Banco Sabadell: an average Return on Tangible Equity of 22 percent over the period, further strengthening BBVA's leadership in the European banking sector. He also emphasized a key metric: value creation. BBVA has generated significant value for its shareholders over the past 15 years and forecasts growth in tangible book value per share plus dividends of between 15 percent and 20 percent in compound annual growth rate.
The bank expects post-merger total (pre-tax) synergies of €900 million per year², equivalent to 13.5 percent of the combined cost base of BBVA Spain and Banco Sabadell, excluding TSB, which was sold to Banco Santander and is pending regulatory approvals.
Because of the condition imposed by Spain's Council of Ministers, full synergies will be achieved with approximately a one-year delay versus the original plan. In this new scenario, BBVA will complete all preparations before the legal merger, at the end of 2028 or beginning of 2029, allowing full synergies to materialize in the year immediately after the merger (expected 2029), with some benefits already coming through ahead of that.
These synergies support an extremely attractive offer: the proposal represents the highest valuation for Sabadell in more than a decade, and the initial premium is much higher than other recent banking-sector tender offers (about 30 percentage points above the average for these transactions).
The value of the offer has increased by 43 percent since merger discussions were disclosed, driven by the very positive performance of BBVA's share price.
As a result of all of the above, he noted that the financial impact is extremely positive for the shareholders of both banks. This is a highly accretive deal: +5 percent¹ EPS growth (post-merger) for BBVA shareholders and as much as +25 percent¹ for Banco Sabadell shareholders.
BBVA's CEO reiterated that this is an excellent offer with significant value creation potential and invited Banco Sabadell shareholders to be part of this integration with the BBVA Group: the best possible partner and a European leader in efficiency, growth and profitability.
When asked about his outlook for BBVA's main markets, Onur Genç was optimistic.
For Spain, the bank expects economic growth to remain solid in the coming years (with GDP growth slightly below 2 percent for 2026 - 2028) and interest rates around 2 percent throughout the cycle. In the CEO's view, the financial sector will grow even faster than the broader economy after a severe deleveraging over the past 15 years. In this context, BBVA will continue to outperform the industry and gain market share. With interest rate stabilization, activity becomes the main driver of net interest income.
Regarding Mexico, Genç noted that the economy has proven resilient in 2025 and anticipated that BBVA Research will revise its GDP growth estimates upward into positive territory. In this context, BBVA Mexico continues to outperform peers in 2025, and has revised its credit growth guidance up to around 10 percent for the year. The objective is to further consolidate the Group's leadership over the next four years while improving profitability.
Regarding Türkiye, Genç stressed that the economy is progressively improving, overcoming certain economic imbalances. With this improved prospects, Türkiye's contribution to BBVA's results is expected to strengthen in the coming years, as disinflation consolidates and interest rates decline. Garanti BBVA is in a privileged position to benefit from this dynamic, as it is the best bank in the country, the CEO said.