11/14  On 14 July the Bank of Italy granted the application that BBVA had made on 16 June to acquire up to 30 per cent of BNL’s share capital through its exchange tender offer, independently of acquisition of a majority holding.
In response to BBVA’s further request for recognition of its de facto control of BNL if its holding exceeded the 30 per cent threshold, the Bank of Italy reaffirmed the need to await the outcome of the exchange tender offer in order to verify the Spanish bank’s actual exercise of control. The tender offer expired on 22 July.