Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.
Acquisitions
6
Major Deals Covered
$20.9B
Disclosed Deal Value
BBVA's largest disclosed acquisition here is Compass Bancshares (United States) for $9.6B in 2007. This page covers 6 major deals from 2000 to 2022, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.
| Company | Year | Price | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grupo Financiero Bancomer (Mexico) | 2000 | $1.4B | BBVA capitalized Bancomer with USD1.4 billion and merged it with its own Mexican bank, BBV-Probursa, creating Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer and giving BBVA control of the largest banking franchise in Mexico. |
| BBVA Bancomer minority shares (Mexico) | 2004 | $4.1B | BBVA offered USD4.1 billion in cash in February 2004 for the roughly 41 percent of BBVA Bancomer it did not already own, taking full economic ownership of the Mexican bank. |
| Compass Bancshares (United States) | 2007 | $9.6B | BBVA bought Compass Bancshares of Birmingham, Alabama for USD9.6 billion to build retail scale across the US Sunbelt alongside its earlier Texas purchases. |
| Turkiye Garanti Bankasi 24.9 percent stake (Turkey) | 2010 | $5.8B | BBVA agreed in November 2010 to pay ~$4.74 billion (EUR4.195 billion), about USD5.84 billion, for 24.9 percent of Garanti, buying 18.6 percent from General Electric and 6.3 percent from the Dogus group, and funded it with a rights issue of about $5.65 billion (EUR5 billion). |
| Catalunya Banc (Spain) | 2014 | Undisclosed | BBVA won the FROB auction for Catalunya Banc in July 2014 with a bid of ~$1.34 billion (EUR1.187 billion), adding 1.5 million customers and ~$71.2 billion (EUR63 billion) of assets in Catalonia; the purchase closed in 2015. |
| Turkiye Garanti Bankasi tender offer (Turkey) | 2022 | Undisclosed | BBVA raised its price to 15 Turkish lira per share and closed a tender offer for the Garanti shares it did not own in May 2022, lifting its holding to 85.97 percent. |
2022
BBVA raised its price to 15 Turkish lira per share and closed a tender offer for the Garanti shares it did not own in May 2022, lifting its holding to 85.97 percent.
Full control of the Turkish bank increased BBVA's share of Garanti's earnings and of its currency and inflation risk.
2014
BBVA won the FROB auction for Catalunya Banc in July 2014 with a bid of ~$1.34 billion (EUR1.187 billion), adding 1.5 million customers and ~$71.2 billion (EUR63 billion) of assets in Catalonia; the purchase closed in 2015.
The deal lifted BBVA's share of Spanish retail banking in Catalonia and brought cost synergies that showed up in the group's 2016 and 2017 expense lines.
2010
$5.8B
BBVA agreed in November 2010 to pay ~$4.74 billion (EUR4.195 billion), about USD5.84 billion, for 24.9 percent of Garanti, buying 18.6 percent from General Electric and 6.3 percent from the Dogus group, and funded it with a rights issue of about $5.65 billion (EUR5 billion).
Turkey became a third earnings pillar, with EUR805m of net attributable profit in 2025, but also exposed BBVA to lira depreciation and IAS 29 hyperinflation accounting.
2007
$9.6B
BBVA bought Compass Bancshares of Birmingham, Alabama for USD9.6 billion to build retail scale across the US Sunbelt alongside its earlier Texas purchases.
The combined unit became BBVA Compass, later BBVA USA, with branches from Florida to Arizona. BBVA left US retail banking in 2021.
2004
$4.1B
BBVA offered USD4.1 billion in cash in February 2004 for the roughly 41 percent of BBVA Bancomer it did not already own, taking full economic ownership of the Mexican bank.
BBVA ended the process holding about 99 percent of the Mexican group, so Mexican earnings no longer leaked to minority shareholders.
2000
$1.4B
BBVA capitalized Bancomer with USD1.4 billion and merged it with its own Mexican bank, BBV-Probursa, creating Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer and giving BBVA control of the largest banking franchise in Mexico.
Mexico became the group's biggest profit contributor and produced EUR5,264m of net attributable profit in 2025, about half the group total.
After the Banco Sabadell offer lapsed in October 2025, BBVA's growth plan rests on organic lending, digital expansion in Europe and capital returns. Loans and advances to customers grew 11.5 percent in 2025 and customer funds 13.5 percent. The group opened a branch-free digital bank in Italy in October 2021, which passed 800,000 customers by its fourth anniversary and targets one million during 2026, and launched a second digital bank in Germany in June 2025. Capital released by the 2021 transfer of BBVA USA to PNC still underpins buybacks and dividends, with half of 2025 profit earmarked for shareholders.
BBVA runs a universal banking model built on local subsidiaries that fund themselves with local deposits, so a shock in one country does not drain the parent. Customer deposits reached ~$568B (EUR502.5B) at the end of 2025 against ~$534B (EUR472.7B) of gross loans, and net interest income of ~$29.7B (EUR26.280B) provided about 71 percent of gross income. Fees from payments, cards, asset management and insurance added ~$9.28B (EUR8.215B) and net trading income ~$3B (EUR2.656B). Distribution is mostly digital: 81.2 million active customers were served through 5,642 branches and 31,015 ATMs, and the efficiency ratio of 38.8 percent is one of the lowest among large European banks.
BBVA took control of Bancomer in 2000 by injecting USD1.4 billion of capital and merging it with its Mexican bank BBV-Probursa to create Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer. In February 2004 it offered USD4.1 billion in cash for the roughly 41 percent held by minority shareholders, ending with close to 99 percent of the Mexican group.
BBVA agreed in November 2010 to buy 24.9 percent of Turkiye Garanti Bankasi for ~$4.74 billion (EUR4.195 billion), about USD5.84 billion, taking 18.6 percent from General Electric and 6.3 percent from the Dogus group, and completed the purchase in 2011. It raised the stake over the following years and a tender offer completed in May 2022 lifted the holding to 85.97 percent.
In 2007, BBVA acquired Alabama-based Compass Bancshares for $9.6 billion, combining it with earlier regional US acquisitions (Laredo National Bank, Texas Regional Bancshares) to build BBVA Compass, a Sunbelt banking network operating across Texas, Alabama, Arizona, and Florida.
BBVA agreed in November 2020 to transfer BBVA USA Bancshares to PNC Financial Services for USD11.6 billion in cash, a price close to half BBVA's own market capitalization at the time. The deal closed on June 1, 2021 with about USD11.5 billion received, freeing capital that BBVA redeployed into buybacks, dividends and its core markets.
BBVA acquired pioneering digital banking platform Simple (US) for $117 million in 2014, Finnish digital banking startup Holvi in 2016, and Mexican payment service provider Openpay in 2016 to accelerate digital customer onboarding and payment gateway technologies.
During its Latin American expansion in the 1990s, BBVA acquired controlling stakes in Argentina's Banco Francés (now BBVA Argentina), Peru's Banco Continental (now BBVA Perú), Colombia's Banco Ganadero (now BBVA Colombia), and Venezuela's Banco Provincial.
BBVA became the leading strategic investor in UK-based mobile challenger bank Atom Bank in 2015, acquiring an initial 29.5% stake that grew to approximately 39%, gaining early operational insights into app-only mortgage lending and biometric authentication.
BBVA's offer, launched on May 9, 2024, was an all-share exchange that initially valued Banco Sabadell at about $13.8 billion (EUR12.2 billion) at one new BBVA share for every 4.83 Sabadell shares, and was improved in September 2025. It needed half of Sabadell's voting rights; holders of 25.47 percent accepted, so the offer lapsed on October 16, 2025.
BBVA aggressively acquired massive stakes in Mexico's Bancomer and Turkey's Garanti Bank, and recently launched a highly controversial hostile takeover bid for its Spanish rival, Banco Sabadell.
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