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.
Spain is the third most attractive European country for property investment in 2016, while Madrid is the continent’s second favourite city to invest in after London, according to the CBRE report “Global Investors Intentions.” The report also highlights the increasing sustainability of the European property sector, in comparison with last year’s performance and with other regions across the globe.
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.
UBS | President Draghi surprised the market positively, both in terms of the magnitude of some of the expected moves (QE extension in the upper end of the range) and also implementing new measures (acquisition of non-financial IG bonds in its asset purchases, and new targeted TLTRO). For (retail) banks like the Spanish, the balance of ECB’s actions has to be considered as positive, especially if trends seen in the swap market are confirmed in Euribor fixings.
Trading volumes on the Spanish stock market have been worse than those of its European peers in February. This gives the impression that investors are rejecting Spain’s bourse, either because of political uncertainty, its exposure to Brazil, or else the eternal doubts about some of the Spanish banks.
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.
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.