OFFER FOR TSB BANKING GROUP PLC
Summary
· The boards of directors of Banco de Sabadell S.A. (Sabadell) and TSB Banking Group plc (TSB) are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer for TSB by Sabadell pursuant to which Sabadell will acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of TSB (the Offer). Sabadell has agreed to acquire a 9.99 per cent. interest in TSB from Lloyds Bank plc (Lloyds), and Lloyds has entered into an irrevocable undertaking to accept the Offer in respect of its entire remaining 40.01 per cent. shareholding in TSB.
· Under the terms of the Offer, TSB Shareholders will receive 340 pence per share in cash for each TSB Share, which values the entire issued share capital of TSB at approximately £1.7 billion.
· The Offer represents a premium of approximately:
· 4 per cent. to the Closing Price of 327 pence per TSB Share on 19 March 2015, being the last Business Day before the date of this announcement;
· 29 per cent. to the Closing Price of 264.1 pence per TSB Share on 11 March 2015, being the last Business Day before the joint announcement by Sabadell and TSB in response to media speculation that commenced the Offer Period; and
· 31 per cent. to the offer price of 260 pence per TSB Share on its initial public offering announced on 20 June 2014.
· The Offer implies a price to book value multiple of 1.0 times.
· Sabadell expects to support and accelerate TSB's retail growth strategy and accelerate the expansion of TSB's presence in the SME sector. Sabadell intends to continue to operate TSB as a robust competitor in the UK banking market, building on the TSB brand name. Sabadell believes that it and TSB share similar values and customer commitment.
· Sabadell recognises the contributions made by TSB's management and employees to TSB's success and believes that they are very important to the future development of Sabadell. Following completion of the Offer, Paul Pester and Darren Pope of TSB have agreed to continue in their current roles. Paul Pester will also join the Management Executive Committee of Sabadell Group on completion. Will Samuel has agreed to remain as the independent Chairman of TSB following completion of the Offer. Sabadell currently anticipates that the board of TSB would include, in addition to the independent Chairman, two executive directors (being Paul Pester and Darren Pope), three directors to be appointed by Sabadell and three independent non-executive directors.
Strategic and Financial Rationale
Sabadell believes that the Offer is strategically attractive and will deliver the following benefits:
Internationalisation of Sabadell
· Continuation of Sabadell's successful growth strategy, with internationalisation a key part of Sabadell's business plan.
· Pro forma for the acquisition of TSB, 22 per cent. of Sabadell's assets will be located outside its home market, up from 5 per cent. in December 2014.
· The acquisition will result in benefits to Sabadell through enhanced scale and a broader funding and capital base.
Entry into the attractive UK banking market
· Sabadell believes that the UK banking market, including the market serving UK retail and SME customers, is attractive, having a well-defined and stable regulatory framework, consistent profitability and good future growth prospects.
· The challenger bank market is relatively unconsolidated in the UK and Sabadell believes that this will create opportunities to further develop TSB's market position over time.
TSB is a strong challenger bank franchise and positions Sabadell for future growth in the UK market
· TSB is a straight-forward retail and small business bank with a distribution reach of 6 per cent. share of UK branches.
· TSB has already had considerable success in attracting new customers, attracting 8.4 per cent. of new and switching UK personal bank accounts opening in 2014.
· TSB is well-capitalised, with a fully loaded Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio on a pro forma IRB basis[1] of 19.7 per cent. and has a strong funding position with a franchise loan to deposit ratio of 77 per cent.
· TSB has a strong management team and a committed workforce.
· TSB has a solid franchise with a sound basis to drive further asset and liability growth, having demonstrated strong growth in current accounts in 2014 and having successfully re-entered the mortgage intermediary market in January 2015.
Sabadell's management track record can accelerate TSB's strategic development and financial performance
· Sabadell's management team is delivering on Sabadell's Triple business plan.
· Sabadell anticipates that, under its ownership, TSB will be able to further enhance its growth strategy and efficiency, benefitting from Sabadell's resources, experience in SME lending and experience gained in the Spanish banking market.
· Sabadell perceives opportunities to continue to grow TSB's share in the personal current account market, to accelerate its growth in lending (including through the mortgage intermediary channel), to accelerate the expansion of TSB's presence in the SME sector and to enhance its digital distribution channels.
· Sabadell believes that there will be potential for savings to be made through the expected full migration of the IT transitional services currently provided by Lloyds onto Sabadell's proprietary Proteo technology platform.
Compelling financial returns
· Sabadell believes that substantial savings will be derived from IT optimisation benefits (savings of approximately £160 million per annum on a pre-tax basis are anticipated in the third full year after completion of the Offer).
· Lloyds will provide £450 million in support to deliver the migration of the IT transitional services currently provided by Lloyds onto Sabadell's Proteo platform.
· The acquisition is expected to be capital neutral.
· The acquisition is expected to be EPS accretive in the medium term.
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