BBVA CEO Optimistic on CNMC Nod for Sabadell Bid After Remedies

BBVA SA Chief Executive Officer Onur Genc is optimistic Spain’s antitrust watchdog will approve the lender’s unsolicited takeover bid for rival Banco Sabadell SA.

Any concerns previously harbored by the agency CNMC “should have been dissipated” by guarantees made by BBVA that would ensure a sufficient level of competition after the deal, Genc said Tuesday on Bloomberg TV. He added that “we are in the last inches” to get the nod from CNMC.

BBVA, whose formal name is Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, last May made an unsolicited takeover bid for Sabadell. The smaller bank has rejected the ...