Sabadell Said to Have Approached Unicaja Investors Over Deal

Banco Sabadell SA has held informal talks about a combination with Spanish lender Unicaja Banco SA as it seeks to head off a hostile takeover by larger rival BBVA SA, according to people familiar with the matter.

Sabadell executives sounded out some of the key shareholders of Unicaja earlier this month about a potential deal, one of the people said. The informal proposal is still under consideration and may not lead to any formal merger talks, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information.