Articles by Fernando Barciela

About the Author

Fernando Barciela
Fernando Barciela has been a regular collaborator for Spain's leading daily El Pais' business section since 1994. He is also a regular collaborator on foreign policy. For Grupo Consejeros he interviews the top executives of Spain's listed companies. He was a correspondent with Diario de Noticias, Portugal's leading daily newspaper, in 1987-2004. He has a degree in Business Science and Journalism from the Complutense University.
FCC

Slim, Or The Art Of Buying At Bargain Prices

F. Barciela / F.G. Ljubetic | The bios about Carlos Slim, the third richest man in the world according to Forbes, are very clear about the origins of his fortune. He made the most of his money during the peso crisis by acquiring several blocks of shares in the biggest Mexican companies at a bargain prices. This is how he will acquire FCC, one of the biggest Spanish construction firms, for just…7.6 euros per share.


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Consumer spending in Spain outpaces eurozone

The figures issued by the Bank of Spain have confirmed what we could already see with the naked eye; namely that Spaniards are losing their fear of the future and spending again. After several years of austerity, the consumers in Spain have gradually loosened their purse strings over the past year. And to such an extent that consumer spending rose 3.1% in 2015, almost tripling the 1.2% registered a year earlier.



gAMESA

Spain Is About To lose Another Big Renewables Firm

Basque wind turbines manufacturer Gamesa will probably be sold to Siemens, according to news published in the last few days and a regulatory filing from the company. In this filing, Gamesa admitted it is holding talks with the German industrial conglomerate.


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Low Prices Are Bad For The Oil Sector, Close To Panic

Low oil prices can be good for the drivers, but they are simply catastrophic for the oil companies and the markets. Many top oil firms have seen their earnings sharply reduced and their credit ratings cut. It is expected that prices will rise again, but not before late this year or 2017. The big question is whether the industry will be able to survive until then.


españa cañas

Spain Created One In Three Jobs In Europe, But Bad Politics Could End This

President Rajoy loves to say that Spain is the country with more GDP and employment growth in the EU. And, of course, he is right. When the PP took office in December 2011, unemployment was increasing at a rate of 7.9 per cent a year. Now, four years later, as the PP’s leader has recalled, ‘it’s dropping at an annual rate of 8 per cent.’ But the most common concern for foreign analysts is the low quality of the jobs being created in Spain.

 


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“The Idea That Oil Is In Scarce Supply No Longer Seems Valid”

Luis Carlos Croissier is a member of the board of Repsol, Spain’s biggest oil company. He recalls that proven global oil reserves are currently double the level they were in 1980. Croissier was also chairman of the CNMV, the stock exchange regulatory body, and responsible for the Spanish bourse’s “Big Bang”, at the end of 80’s. Before that time, he was Industry Minister in Spain’s Socialist party.


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Markets Are Addicted To Stimuli

The collapse of the global stockmarkets, with European bourses falling 10 percent or more over the past month, is a cry for help to the central banks to ‘do something’, namely provide more stimulus to the economy. One of these voices is Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund Bridgewater, who said that the Federal Reserve needs to start printing money again to boost markets.


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Current Crude Oil Prices Are Unsustainable; Unlikely To Last For Long

The abrupt fall in crude oil prices, considered a blessing not so long ago, is now seen as increasingly troubling. West Texas and Brent crude prices fell from over $100 a barrel in 2014 to just $30 last Friday, a 12-year low. Although the drop in crude waw initially welcomed, many fear that current low prices may bring with them more problems than solutions.


rajoy sanchez

After Spain’s roller coaster ride in 2015, the worst is yet to come

Spain has been on a kind of roller coaster ride in 2015,  lurching between good and bad news. There was a lot of the first, but it seems not quite good enough to please and impress Spaniards, if the outcome of the general elections is anything to go by. Unless the Socialist ‘barones’ (the regional bosses) can persuade PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez to give the PP a chance to form a new government with the backing of Ciudadanos, there could be worse to come.