Mari Pinardo | Banco Santander reached an agreement on Tuesday to sell US private equity firm Blackstone a majority 51% stake in 30 billion euros of soured property assets and loans it inherited when it bought ailing lender Banco Popular in June.
ATL Capital |For most people, the summer is a time for relaxing and taking a well-earned break from work. But it can also bring instability and suprises in the stock markets. While August has been a negative month for investments for the last eight years, it’s September which is traditionally the worst summertime month.
Carax Alphavalue |After earning the unhappy reputation of being the protagonist in Spain’s biggest ever bankruptcy case, engineering and renewable energy company Abengoa could be worth taking another look as a summer investment bet – albeit a high risk one.
Pablo García Gómez (Carax Alphavalue) |Sector earnings from Europe for the second half of 2017 have been overall solid, with some positive surprises from “heavy cyclicals” like oil and metals and mining.
Despite the risks which some people have highlighted with regard to Santander’s absorption of Popular, neither analysts nor investors seem to have been spooked by the massive rights issue launched by Santander last Friday. All in all, it seems the acquisition could be described as something of a dream deal.
José Luis M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | The key to monetary normalisation for many people is the moderate evolution of inflation. That said, it’s also important monetary policy adapts to the potential impact of technology developments on inflation.
Fernando Rodríguez | In just three years real estate firm Colonial moved from being on the brink of bankruptcy to the preferred stock to capitalize the announced and definitive recovery of the property sector. After joining the Ibex35 and changing into a Socimi, the company’s appeal to investors has increased.
This month is the 20th anniversary of the start of the Asian Financial Crisis. Over these two decades, Asian economies have changed a lot: in 1997, Chinese GDP was around $780bn, about the same size as Switzerland. Last year, the Chinese economy grew by more than that amount.
Global growth is speeding with a forecast of 3.6% by 2018, basically due to 4.8% expansion of emerging markets, since developed countries continue languishing with a rise of 1.9% inadequate to solve their social and economic problems.
The construction company is studying a possible counter-bid for Abertis in order to improve Italian Atlantia’s offer price of 16.5 euros, but no decission has been made yet even though the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission CNMV has already been notified.