By Tania Suárez | The board of directors of Ibercaja and Caja 3 have agreed to initiate the merger process of their banking business, in order to develop a new bank. Last February the Spanish minister of Economy Luis de Guindos announced the outline of the financial reform. It has shaken the system and the public opinion, but it is now starting to reap the fruits. As the economist Juan Pedro…
NEW YORK | General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroën’s strategic pact announced Wednesday is meant to help both automakers squeeze $2 billion a year at their struggling European operations. The Detroit giant will acquire a 7% stake in French automaker PSA as part of a broad alliance that will include sharing vehicle architectures and pool the purchase of components. They will also cooperate in such areas as logistics and transportation to…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | In spite of the many difficulties that Spanish construction companies find in the UK, these firms remain undeterred and keep on defending their assets in Great Britain, as well as fighting to obtain new contracts in the country. This is the case of Abertis Infraestructuras, which will bring to court Luton Borough Council in a €360-million compensation claim if the local authority forced it to…
Through its subsidiary ScottishPower and National Grid, Iberdrola on Thursday announced the award of a £1bn contract to Siemens and cable manufacturer Prysmian, in order to build the first ever sub-sea electricity link between Scotland and England, Wales. The major grid upgrade will increase the capacity of electricity flowing between England and Scotland by more than 2,000 megawatts (MW), allowing new renewable energy projects to be developed in Scotland that could…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Repsol YPF’s petrol deposit finding in Vaca Muerta (Argetina) seems to have no end. An external audit commissioned by the company revealed that the reserves of unconventional oil (shale oil/gas) exceed initial expectations and increase to no more no less than an equivalent 22,807 million oil barrels, which according to the newspaper Negocio would mean a sixfold increase in the company’s reserves. Spanish analysts agree…
NEW YORK | You update your status. You share last weekend pictures in the snow and react on your colleague’s comments to the football game. You browse and snoop on people’s stuff and hit on the like and dislike buttons over and over… and everything goes into Facebook’s giant database. With 845 million users around the world (up 39% from 2010), the company is preparing for a public offering that…
MADRID | The Spanish newspaper Expansión on Wednesday published that 48- year old Daniel Maté, from Guipuzkoa and with a degree in Law and Economics from the University of Deusto, will become the largest shareholder of the mining and raw materials giant that will result from the biggest merger ever agreed in this sector. Maté now has 6.03% of Glencore, which will become 3.31% of the merged entity, after having purchased a…
If you are in Beijing and you want to buy an Iphone, you have two options: a) either drop by an official Apple store or b) take the chance of being sold a fake Iphone –which looks exactly the same than the original one- at one of the many official reseller Apple stores that pack computer centers. Don’t be fooled by the name. Yes, they may carry the word “official”;…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | The Spanish companies Ferrovial and Técnicas Reunidas (TRE) have joined forces to bid for British nuclear plants. According to UK Government, the British Nuclear Plan would entail a substantial £50 billion investment over the next decades. Ferrovial and TRE have already sealed a framework agreement to work together in large projects related to construction, engineering and operation of nuclear plants. Experts from Bankinter point…
NEW YORK | “Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. Human beings my friend.” That speech by GOP candidate Mitt Romney stirred a huge debate about the role of corporations in the US society. The Occupy Wall Street movement highly distrusted firms. Were they exaggerating? Do companies need…