BBVA focuses on China, in no hurry to acquire
BEIJING, March 2 (Reuters) - Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA), Spain's second-largest bank, is in no hurry to buy more lenders as it digests acquisitions in the United States and China, where it hopes to create a number of joint ventures, its chairman said on Friday.
Speaking one day after closing a deal to spend $1.3 billion on buying stakes in China's CITIC Bank and its Hong Kong-listed international arm, Francisco Gonzalez said that BBVA (BBVA.MC) needed to consolidate its position after agreeing last month to pay $9.6 billion to buy U.S. bank Compass Bancshares CBSS.O.
Speculation that BBVA may try and buy into a European bank has mounted since it lost a battle to buy Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro in 2005.
British magazine The Business reported this week that BBVA could be looking at buying Alliance & Leicester AL.L.
"Our aim is being a global bank but we are not in a hurry," Gonzalez told reporters during a two-day visit to the Chinese capital.
"We want to create value and for the time being, I don't think we have the opportunity to do more things," he said.
The Madrid-based lender needed to centre its attentions on the United States and China, he said, adding that he would not rule out potential acquisitions in the future.
BBVA announced it had agreed to buy stakes in the Chinese entities in November.
