Banco Sabadell completed Banco Gallego acquisition and announced new board of management

Sabadell, Spain, 4-11-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — Having received the corresponding authorization from the European Union regulatory authorities, Banco Sabadell will from today take over the management of the Banco Gallego team, branch network and business, which, from now on, will operate in Galicia under the SabadellGallego brand, thus completing the closing of the operation, begun on 19 April of this year when Banco Sabadell was successful in the competitive bidding process organised by the FROB.

For CEO Josep Oliu: “The incorporation of Banco Gallego allows us to reinforce our presence in the Galician community and increase our share of branches up to 7%. This integration is another step forward in the consolidation of our project for the development of a major national bank, a leader in reliability and quality of service, after the recent successful bids for Banco CAM, for the BMN business in Catalonia and Aragon and for the Spanish network of Lloyds Banking Group.”

The transfer includes a total of 183 branches (117 in Galicia and 66 in the rest of the country) and total assets of 4.2 billion euros, with 3 billion euros in resources and a credit investment of 2.2 billion euros. Banco Gallego has a workforce of 737 staff and a portfolio of 125,000 customers.

With this operation, Banco Sabadell is incorporating a bank already restructured by the FROB and a network of branches specialising in SME and private banking that is well consolidated in Galicia and that complements the network that Banco Sabadell already has in A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra.

The completion of the operation coincides with the commercial integration, which will be based on single management and will mean the adaptation of the commercial policy of the Banco Gallego network to the criteria of Banco Sabadell. Also starting immediately is the process of technological integration, which will culminate during the first quarter of 2014, when the totality of activity will be carried out under a single technological and operating platform.

Appointments

The takeover of the management of Banco Gallego by Banco Sabadell brings with it, in turn, the appointing of a new board of management formed by members of the management committee of Banco Sabadell.

The current CEO of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, will head up this governing body which will also be formed by Jaime Guardiola, José Luis Negro, Tomás Varela, Miguel Montes and María José García Beato.

Furthermore, Jaume Puig, a banking professional of proven experience and with a noteworthy track record in different senior commercial and business management posts at Banco Sabadell, has been appointed new general director of Banco Gallego, replacing José Luis Losada, whom the board of directors thanked for his work.

Settlement and issuing of bonds

Also completed today was the settlement of the repurchase of the Banco Gallego’s hybrid instruments and the consequent issuing of Banco Sabadell convertible bonds for a total of 121.7 million euros.

On 22 October the offer ended for Banco Gallego customers to exchange preferential shares and subordinated debt for bonds convertible into shares of Banco Sabadell. This offer has resulted in an acceptance level that overall exceeded 90%. Among retail investors this increased to over 91.5% and among institutional investors, to 100%.

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