Siemens has identified three key points which could delay or even thwart the deal it is negotiating with Spanish firm Gamesa. The most important is resolving the problem of eliminating competition in the industry, which a tie-up between the two companies would provoke. This issue could cause the transaction to be blocked.
F. Barciela / F.G. Ljubetic | The bios about Carlos Slim, the third richest man in the world according to Forbes, are very clear about the origins of his fortune. He made the most of his money during the peso crisis by acquiring several blocks of shares in the biggest Mexican companies at a bargain prices. This is how he will acquire FCC, one of the biggest Spanish construction firms, for just…7.6 euros per share.
Spain’s three biggest utility companies, Iberdrola, Endesa and Gas Natural, earned 30% less in 2015, recording a combined profit of € 5.0009,6 billion in 2015, 29.6% less than a year earlier.
In 2015, the Eurozone once again saw positive credit flows and a recovery in credit balance rates as a result of new transactions. But volumes are still well off pre-crisis maximum levels. In Spain, what does limit credit demand is the fact that companies have had positive financing capacity for the last seven years, which means that those with less debt have a strong self-financing buffer.
The figures issued by the Bank of Spain have confirmed what we could already see with the naked eye; namely that Spaniards are losing their fear of the future and spending again. After several years of austerity, the consumers in Spain have gradually loosened their purse strings over the past year. And to such an extent that consumer spending rose 3.1% in 2015, almost tripling the 1.2% registered a year earlier.
BARCLAYS | Spanish airport operator AENA, the world’s largest by number of passengers, has reported a strong end to 2015 driven by a combination of strong passenger growth, tight control of opex and lower-than-expected financing charges. Aena’s IPO in 2015 was Spain’s biggest since the financial crisis.
India has snatched away from Spain the fourth place in the global ranking of countries with the greatest installed wind energy capacity, after adding 2,623 MW over the year to reach 22,088 MW. With this figure, the Asian country’s capacity exceeds Spain’s 22,988 MW, becoming fourth in the world for wind energy installations after China, the US and Germany.
The current uncertain political panorama in Spain after the December 20 elections has not been reflected in any significant way in sovereign debt spreads. The yield on the 10-year bond compared with the German bund is around 130 bp, no more than 10-15 bp above the pre-elections level. One alternative to reduce (or diversify) exposure to Spain’s public debt may be take positions in Italian debt.
For the last few months, the European Commission has been warning Spain that it will certainly not comply with its public deficit targets for 2015 and 2016. Many analysts are in agreement with this, while Economy Minister Luis de Guindos rejects it. This is the panorama facing the new Spanish government which, for the moment, King Felipe VI has asked socialist leader Pedro Sanchez to form.
Luis Carlos Croissier is a member of the board of Repsol, Spain’s biggest oil company. He recalls that proven global oil reserves are currently double the level they were in 1980. Croissier was also chairman of the CNMV, the stock exchange regulatory body, and responsible for the Spanish bourse’s “Big Bang”, at the end of 80’s. Before that time, he was Industry Minister in Spain’s Socialist party.