ACS has recently agreed to sell its environmental services subsidiary Urbaser to Firion Investments, the investment fund participated by China Tianying, for between 2.212 and 2.463 billion euros. This operation will not only allow ACS to reduce its gearing, but it will also put Spain on the world map of Chinese investments.
The savings banks which were bailed out by the FROB continue to present problems for that institution and the government. The idea was that after they were restructured and their value had increased, they would find a buyer or incorporate a partner with a controlling stake or seek a stock market listing. So then they would give back at least a good part of the state aid received from the FROB. But these plans are turning out to be difficult to implement.
J.L. M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) |According to a survey by the Centre for Sociological Investigations (CIS), 71.6% of Spaniards see unemployment as one of the three main problems they face; 36.6% believe it is corruption and fraud; and 29.3% point to politics in general. Just 11.6% of Spaniards mentioned the country’s lack of government.
Would a Spanish housewife buy a hake without looking at its eyes and the colour of its gills beforehand? This question will soon be answered following the alliance reached between US e-commerce giant Amazon and the distribution chain Dia.
J.L.M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | The private sector in Spain is continuing to reduce debt. Financing for companies and households has fallen an annual 0.7% and 1.7% respectively, according to August data from the Bank of Spain. One might conclude from these figures that there is still restrictions on credit in Spain. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Francisco López | Lately, the Spanish banks are receiving a huge amount of buy recommendations from analysts. Some experts are asking whether there are some sound reasons to bet on banking stocks now, apart from the fact that the majority of their share prices are attractive.
“With the recovery embedded we see greater scope for selective risk, taking on asset management in core locations while also considering opportunities in well connected edge of CBD overflow locations,” Deutsche AM Spanish Real Estate Strategic Outlook notes.
Salaries have been stagnating in Spain for the last six years and this has been a basic reason for the increase in competitiveness and the economy’s recovery.
The number of unemployed people registered with the Spanish unemployment office rose by 22,801 (+0.6%) in September. Even so, the total number of jobless people remained at the lowest level for the last seven years at 3.720.297, according to a statement from the Employment Ministry on Tuesday.
Socimis, or Reits as they are called in Europe and the US, have helped revive the damaged real estate sector in Spain since 2009. Merlin Properties has been one of the most successful ones and was listed by Chairman and founder Ismael Clemente in 2014. In his opinion, that was a good year to start because “the cycle bottomed out at the end of 2013.”