(Reuters) -GQG Partners, one of Spanish bank BBVA's biggest shareholders, has sold its stake over the bank's decision to pursue a hostile bid for domestic rival Banco Sabadell, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
GQG had decided to sell up by July, having told BBVA's management team that it believed the Sabadell bid would be too time consuming and distracting, while also diluting its exposure to emerging markets, the FT report said.
Neither GQG, nor BBVA nor Sabadell immediately responded to a Reuters request for comment.
BBVA presented a 12.23 billion euro ($13.29 billion) takeover bid for its smaller rival in April, which turned hostile in May, taking the bid directly to Sabadell's shareholders after its target's board earlier rejected the proposal on the same terms.
While Spain's government is opposed to the deal, the European Central Bank gave the deal its green light in September.
However, the acquisition is yet to be authorised by Spain's stock market adviser CNMV, which said this month that it would analyse a competition review of the bid before deciding when it might give a green light.
The deal has also not been authorised by Spain's antitrust watchdog CNMC, and a review could last well into the first quarter of 2025 if the competition authorities require more in-dept analysis.
Under Spanish law, the government cannot stop a bid from being made, but it has the final word on whether a merger goes ahead. Both the CNMV and CNMC have to authorise the deal for it to go ahead.
($1 = 0.9204 euros)
(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard and Alison Williams)