By Enrique Quemada Clariana, in Madrid | As we are M&A advisors, last week a German investment fund visited us in Madrid with the intention of giving us a mandate to search for Spanish industrial companies on sale. They think there are great opportunities in Spain. Their belief is that there will be an ‘inverse delocalization’, which means that, given the crisis that has taken place in the last five years and…
By Joan Tàpia | At the end of 2011 and after taking office, Mariano Rajoy’s government made its first decision: a €15 billion budget adjustment which implied that increasing taxes, especially personal income taxes, was essential –something he said he would never do. During the election campaign, the PP also assured that it would not lower the cost of dismissal. Now, the law-decree of February 11 does precisely this and takes…
By Fernando Gonzalez Urbaneja, in Madrid | Three decrees for the reform, restructuring and rescue of the Spanish financial system have passed and some voices at the Bank of Spain point out there might yet be a fourth one, if needed. Three plans for a sector which boasted of being the best in the world, and neither of all three have exactly been effective in restoring the credit market. The Socialists…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | Year after year, electricity prices have been reined back below recognised costs, building up a deficit running now at €24 billion. This huge hole turned into a right to be paid back in future has suddenly been put in jeopardy. No wonder power companies are talking about daylight robbery. Are they justified in venting their anger on government? One can understand the…
For months now the Spanish and international press have been announcing an imminent salvage of the battered European economy by the Chinese. What seems to be true is that it is something that is never confirmed, just rumours, no actual, concrete action on the part of China. This is the idea that is floating around the City in London and among the Anglo-Saxon commentators, especially among those who most favour…
MADRID | Spain’s ministry of Public Works will request that the route across the Pyrenees be included in the trans-European transport network or TEN-T by the European Commission, reports the daily newspaper Negocio. The head of the department, Ana Pastor, has presented to the media the proposal that will be made in Brussels to help shape this network. Pastor went as far as describe that route as a “key infrastructure for…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | For all the efforts to revamp a sluggish economy by bold reforms, Spain is failing to impress investors. They have the feeling that cleaning up the massive stock of repossessed property and bad loans in banking balance sheets will amount to a much higher bill than the one announced by government. Double the €50 billion figure at the very best. No wonder…
MADRID | As published on Monday by Negocio, Spanish tax inspectors believe the Tax Agency should take some urgent actions to close leaks of fiscal revenue. Bearing in mind the budgetary restrictions that the State is about to suffer, and that any legal change against fiscal fraud would require too long a process, one of their intended measures would be giving a new twist to the message that vice-president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría…
MADRID | Pablo Fernández, Javier Aguirreamalloa, Luis Corres Avendaño | In the period between December 2001 and December 2011, returns on the IBEX 35 were at 4.3% while government 10-year bonds’ were at 5.13%. Among the 532 pension funds with 10-year history, only two funds exceeded the return on 10-year sovereign bonds and only three funds exceeded the 4% return. Even worse, 191 funds had negative average return (in December 2011 these funds had 1.7 million participants and assets of €6.246 billion). A reasonable enough question, then: is the favourable fiscal discrimination…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | The labour reform approved in Spain on Friday, opens the door for massive lay-offs. A drop in sales for three quarters in a row will trigger the possibility of firing workers with a maximum indemnity of one-year salary. It will foster switching to younger/cheaper manpower, at a relatively moderate cost. Average indemnities before would usually run at threefold that amount. Bad luck for…