A leading Spanish bank launched a hostile...

A leading Spanish bank launched a hostile takeover bid for its rival, Banco Espanol de Credito (Banesto) but immediately faced an unexpected counteroffer for the bank group. Banco de Bilbao said it made the hostile offer--unprecedented for the Spanish banking industry--because friendly merger talks between the two banks had broken down. No sooner had Bilbao announced the bid when Petroleos del Mediterraneo (Petromed), an oil company controlled by Banesto, said it would act as a “white knight” and make its own offer to buy all of Banesto.