Interviews

Spain lacks activist investors

Carlos Sáez Gallego: “Spain is a country which has not seen activist shareholders”

Fernando G. Urbaneja | Carlos Sáez Gallego presides over the oldest of the three global proxy solicitors in Spain (1935), those entrusted with securing votes in support of the Board´s proposal in the shareholders´ general assembly. There “we recommend Spanish listed companies to international standards of corporate governance … 47% of their shares lie in international portfolios. That, which is good, sign of confidence, means more pressure to comply with those standards”.


"Trump is the best thing that has happened to Europe"

“Trump Is The Best Thing That Has Happened To Europe”

Lidia Conde (Fráncfort) | Daniel Dettling is professor, editor and president of the Future Institute of Berlin Zukunftspolitik, one of the most prestigious European think tanks in Euro trends and futures thinking. Advises parties, ministries and companies. In his last book, “An agenda for the Neorepublic”, he focuses on the configuration of a just future.


Ngaire Woods: "We are moving towards a globalisation sustained by empires"

Ngaire Woods: “We Are Moving Towards A Globalisation Sustained By Empires”

Pablo Pardo (Washington) | Dean of the Blatavnik School of Government, Ngaire Woods is one of the people closest to Robert Keohane, of Princeton University, one of the most influential international relations theorists in the world. Woods, whose doctoral thesis was on European monetary union, has specialised in global governance and the role of multilateral institutions, two questions which have been the centre of debate following the victory of Donald Trump and Brexit.


Angel Ubide tc

Ángel Ubide: “The US taxpayer made money from the bank rescue. But no-one knows it”

Pablo Pardo (Washington) | Ángel Ubide, who was advisor to Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez between 2015 and 2016, has an enormous experience in financial markets. He has worked in the IMF, Goldman Sachs and three of the largest and best known hedge funds on Wall Street, Tudor, DE Shaw and now Citadel, where he is director of fixed income studies. He has also been a senior fellow of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the most important think-tank specialising in economics in the US.

 

 


zulueta

“The most urgent problem in Spain is unemployment: you need to get it down to 5%”

Fernando G. Urbaneja | Chairman of the Círculo de Empresarios (Business Round Table in Spain ), John de Zulueta is an experienced member of the Board of Directors of various international firms. From his managerial post as President of the Sanitas Group (BUPA Group), he turned the company into the leader of its market. He is also Vice-President of the Innovation Bankinter Foundation and was member of the Advisory Council of 3i Europe. He spoke to us about how to fix Spain’s labour market (unemployment rate is 14.7%, according to April 25th data), where there are currently “135,000 technological jobs vacant which cannot find the people to fill them.”

 


karel van hulle 2

“We need accounting experts with the courage of including intangible assets in balance sheets”

Julia Pastor | Board member at the Bermuda Monetary Authority, Professor Karel van Hulle considers that the current accounting standards, which changed last year, “is not good because since it does not recognize the change we are seeing in society whereby people want to have more future-oriented value in the balance sheet.” This is the second part of our conversation.


Prof. Karel Van Hulle

“An auditor should not only look only at what happened in the past”

Julia Pastor | Accounting expert Karel Van Hulle (+30 years of experience at the European Commission) believes that financial states of the companies should focus more on important issues for society. “Firms today are different than the ones we had in the past… they don’t have assets in their balance sheets since all their value is non-tangible.”


"The 48 debt crises of the last 100 years are all the same"

“The 48 Debt Crises Of The Last 100 Years Are All The same”

Pablo Pardo (Washington) | Many consider that his hedge fund, Bridgewater, is a sect. A sect in which the guru is the fund´s founder, Ray Dalio. A guru who is now semi-retired from the front-line of managing the fund, and dedicates himself to spreading his ideas about the world, life and the markets. Ideas which are captured in his best seller “Principles”, published in Spain by Deusto, in which he develops his philosophy of life and the markets in 608 pages with autobiographical touches.

 


"Cellnex has invested more than €3 Bn in 4 years and enjoys double digit grow"

“Cellnex Has Invested More Than 3 Billion In 4 Years And Enjoys Double Digit Grow”

Manuel Moreno Capa | In 2017, Marieta del Rivero was the first woman to be incorporated, as an independent, in the board of Cellnex Telecom, a company created in 2015. Marieta del Rivero proposes many other measures, at least temporary, to increase the number of women sitting on boards. Described in some media as one of the most influential women in Spain, she considers a change in corporate culture essential, “the great barrier to women being able to get to the top”


MEP Ramón Jáuregui

“We all know that unanimity is the thorn in the side of the European Union”

Ana Fuentes (Strasbourg) | Where should the EU look in the future? What are the priorities? At a time of rapid change, protectionism and nationalist populism, the European Parliament has approved a document of minimums called The Future of Europe. As inevitably happens in such plural institutions, it is neither binding nor completely satisfies anyone, but sets out the challenges the still 28 members have to confront together if the European project is not to diluted. We discuss it with Ramón Jáuregui, socialist MEP and rapporteur of the text.