Spain's Sabadell mulls potential sale of TSB

(Sharecast News) - Banco Sabadell is exploring a potential sale of high street lender TSB, the Spanish bank confirmed on Tuesday. In a brief statement following widespread media reports, the lender said it had received "preliminary non-binding expressions of interest for the acquisition of the entire share capital of TSB" and confirmed it would weigh up any potential binding offer.

On Monday, the Financial Times reported that Sabadell - which is seeking to fend off a €11bn hostile takeover from Spanish rival BBVA - was working with advisors to examine offloading the British bank.

Sabadell acquired TSB from Lloyds Banking Group in 2015 for £1.7bn. The acquisition was part of a broader plan to diversify away from Spain, much in the same vein as rival Santander. The last year, however, has seen Sabadell focus on fending off BBVA's approach.

That deal would see the combined business overtake Santander to become the second-largest player in domestic lending. The government is currently reviewing the bid.

Most of the UK's high street lenders could be interested in TSB, including Santander, which has long had presence in the country after acquiring building societies Abbey National in 2004, Bradford & Bingley in 2008 and Alliance & Leicester in 2009.

Other lenders who could be interested include NatWest Group, Barclays and HSBC, the FT noted. It is not known who has approached Sabadell. The newspaper also quoted an unnamed source saying a sale could potentially generate between £1.7bn and £2bn.

TSB, which has around 5m UK customers and 175 branches, posted pre-tax profits of £285m last year on income of £1.14bn. Total assets stood at £46.1bn as at the end of 2024.