Sabadell has hired Deloitte to do a strategic review on the future of its payments subsidiarythe one in charge of the transactions carried out through the debit and credit cards of the entity, as confirmed by different financial sources. The Newspaper of Spain. Among the options being considered is the sale to a third party, the entry of a partner or continue promoting its growth through the bank’s resources, according to the same sources, who indicate that there is still no formal decision made in this regard. In any case, the valuation of this payment subsidiary would be around 300 and 350 million euros, according to the same sources, who anticipate that the entity works with other advisors for the analysis of the future of this division. This newspaper has contacted Sabadell and Deloitte, who declined to comment on this information.
The entity is going through one of its best moments after announcing a net profit of 530 million euros at the end of the 2021 financial year, compared to the two million obtained in 2020, the year in which the coronavirus pandemic broke out and which profoundly separated it from the benefit of 730 million in the 2019 financial year. Much of the collapse of its result It was linked to the millionaire losses recorded by its business in the United Kingdom, where it is present through its subsidiary TSB. This division contributed 118 million euros to Sabadell’s profit in 2021, compared to the 220 million that remained in 2020.
during the pandemic the possibility of selling his business in the United Kingdom was raised, but its CEO, César González-Bueno, discarded this option in the presentation of results in January this year. In fact, in October 2021, the bank rejected an offer from the British Co-operative Bank to take over this division for 1.2 billion euros. The CEO of the entity also ruled out during the presentation of results the divestment of its private banking or a merger, while stating that he wanted to increase the bank’s dividend. Thus, González-Bueno completely cooled down the integration with BBVA that was also raised at the end of 2020.
good evolution
Despite the good evolution of the bank’s results, the profit is far from the 730 million registered before the pandemic. The entity achieved a profitability (measured in ROTE) of 5% and forecasts a ROTE above 6% in 2022, with which “it reaches the profitability objectives of the strategic plan a year earlier”. The tier one capital ratio, CET1 fully loaded, improved by 16 basis points in fiscal year 2021, to 12.18%, which is 391 basis points above the minimum required by the European Central Bank (ECB). The mattress exceeds the target set at this point for that year, which was 350 basis points.
In recent months, the entity has been immersed in a strong divestment policy that has led it to divest itself of its real estate developer, its fund manager and its business in Andorra, among others
It should be remembered that the entity chaired by Josep Oliu has spent recent years immersed in a strong divestment policy of the less strategic businesses, to which could be added the sale of this payment subsidiary, revealed by Bloomberg, if the transaction comes to fruition. In this sense, in recent years Sabadell has divested itself of different non-performing loan portfolios, its business in Andorra (which Morabanc bought for around 68 million euros), its real estate platform Solvia (which it sold to Intrum for around 300 million) together with its promoter (SDIn, which ended up in the hands of Oaktree for 882 million), that of its fund manager (Sabadell Asset Management, now in the hands of Amundi, which disbursed 430 million) or that of its leasing business (controlled by ADL, which paid 59 million).
That’s the way it is, the Catalan bank is in one of its best moments on the stock market, after a considerable revaluation since the end of January of this year, trading at levels of the same month of 2020. In three weeks, its shares have doubled their value from the 0.61 euros per share registered on the day of January 24, 2022 to the 0.89 euros per title with which he closed yesterday’s trading day. Thus, little by little, it is approaching pre-pandemic levels, when Sabadell shares were trading at 1.06 euros per share in 2019, but further from the highs of 1.23 euros on the day of November 7, 2018 In any case, the bank’s shares have been appreciating significantly since it presented the financial results corresponding to the end of the 2021 financial year, beating analyst forecasts (it achieved a profit 35% higher than the consensus forecast of analysts from Bloomberg).
BlackRock climbs positions and is its largest shareholder
Last week, the American investment giant BlackRock revealed to the CNMV that it had climbed positions in Sabadell in the midst of a stock market fever for the financial sector in the face of a possible rate hike. The largest fund manager globally has declared an increase in its stake in the bank’s capital to 5.141%, valued at more than 254 million euros taking as a reference the price with which Sabadell closed the trading day on Thursday (0.89 euros per share). Before this movement took place, BlackRock had 3.643%, being the third shareholder of the bank behind the Mexican tycoon David Martínez Guzmán (3.495%) and the American businessman Lewis Sanders (3.473%). Last week, the American investment giant BlackRock revealed to the CNMV that it had climbed positions in Sabadell in the midst of a stock market fever for the financial sector in the face of a possible rate hike. The largest fund manager globally has declared an increase in its stake in the bank’s capital to 5.141%, valued at more than 254 million euros taking as a reference the price with which Sabadell closed the trading day on Thursday (0.89 euros per share). Before this movement took place, BlackRock had 3.643%, being the third shareholder of the bank behind the Mexican tycoon David Martínez Guzmán (3.495%) and the American businessman Lewis Sanders (3.473%).