If Telefonica approves the choice of current CEO José María Álvarez-Pallete to replace Cesar Alierta as Chairman, he will be the first Executive Chairman not to be appointed by the Spanish government. Alvarez-Pallete will face two main challenges: securing European Commission approval for the sale of O2 and dealing with the weakness of the LatAm economies, particularly Brazil.
Telefónica’s Board of Directors will consider the appointment of José María Álvarez-Pallete as the company’s new Executive Chairman at its next meeting on April 8th. The proposal has been made by current Chief Executive César Alierta, who believes Álvarez-Pallete is the best prepared executive to face the challenges of the digital revolution.
F. Barciela and F.G. Ljubetic | For several years, Spain’s third biggest bank has been trying to gain full control of Portuguese lender BPI, in which it already holds 44.1%. But up until now it has been unable to fulfill its objective. And it seems undeniable that the reason for CaixaBank’s failure is a young Angolan woman. Isabel dos Santos, 43, is the oldest daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, one of the longest serving presidents in Africa.
The sale of Telefonica’s O2 to Hong Kong telecoms giant Hutchison remains up in the air. And the European Commission (EC), which has the final responsibility for the outcome of the transaction, is still being a dog in a manger, under pressure from the UK authorities.
In the last few months, three leading Spanish companies, Parques Reunidos, Telepizza and Cortefiel, have announced plans to list on the stock market. This wouldn’t have been so odd if it weren’t for the fact that the trio were already in the market some years ago, and were then later delisted.
Banco Santander’s Group executive chairman, Ana Botín, today chaired the Bank ́s Annual General Meeting which approved the 2015 accounts. Botín stressed that despite “a more difficult environment than expected, results were good”.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has allowed Banco Santander to apply its own capital calculation model for its Brazilian subsidiary. The approval arrived seven days after Santander presented its 2015 results, so they don’t reflect the effect of the new measure.
Bankia, the lender which had to be bailed-out in 2012 with more than 22 billion euros of taxpayers’ money, is in the news because of the money it has now returned to its minority shareholders. Not for being the Spanish bank which recorded the biggest profits last year.
Caixabank is conscious of the fact that the Spanish market is running out of steam and that the future lies in having a strong presence abroad, like its two bigger Spanish rivals (Santander and BBVA). So it is relaunching its initiative to fully acquire Banco Portugues de Investimento (BP), in which it currently holds 44%. It also announced three dividends for 2016.
The demise of Abengoa, the Spanish engineering and renewable energy firm, would have been a massive blow for its creditor banks. So the government and the banks have been working on a solution since the company entered pre-insolvency proceedings. The deal agreed this week hands over the majority of Abengoa’s capital to its creditors.