Overview

• On June 4, the Audiencia Nacional dismissed Statera Legal’s urgent request to suspend use of public consultation outcomes in BBVA’s bid for Banco Sabadell.
• The court majority found no “special urgency” to halt the consultation; it also held that only the Council of Ministers can alter Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo’s competitive review.
• One judge dissented, highlighting disputes over the consultation’s legal basis as well as its formal validity.
• The CNMC approved BBVA’s acquisition in late April with conditions, triggering a public consultation whose feedback may inform broader reasons of general interest.
• The Council of Ministers now has the final say on whether to uphold, tighten or scrap the CNMC’s conditions on the takeover.