06:56 AM EDT, 10/06/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria ( BBVA ) has filed a complaint against rival Sabadell with the Spanish market regulator, accusing it of trying to obstruct the 17 billion euro ($19.83 billion) hostile takeover proposal, The Financial Times reported Monday.

BBVA is alleging that Sabadell staff are obstructing its own shareholders when they go to branches to accept the offer, the report said.

"We never wanted to be confrontational with them throughout this process... But this thing is really serious. If a shareholder of Sabadell wants to tender, and if you are making life difficult for that person, you're taking away the liberty of a shareholder," BBVA CEO Onur Genc said, according to the report.

BBVA did not immediately respond to an MT Newswires request for comment.

In a separate Reuters report, Genc said that BBVA has 8 billion euros in capital for a mandatory cash offer for Sabadell if it fails to convince sufficient shareholders to accept the hostile offer.

Genc said his base case was that BBVA would get more than 50% of shares in Sabadell to clinch the takeover offer, according to Reuters.

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