It has been five months and one day since, on December 19, the Council of Ministers formally authorized the State Industrial Participations Company (SEPI) to acquire 10% of Telefónica’s capital. Yesterday, the milestone was completed after the public company bought the last 1.46% of the capital it still needed to complete the milestone.
According to the information communicated to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), SEPI has acquired 567 million shares of the company at an average price of 4.02 euros per title, which represents an investment of 2,284.8 million of euros To this capital, a minimum stake of 541 shares that SEPI had at the time is added, so that, in total, the State’s public stake in the telecom rises to 567,016,696 shares. “The operation has been carried out minimizing the impact on the quotation and complying with the communications of significant participations established in the regulations of the markets where it operates”, detailed the public entity.
But the truth is that, as the operation of the Spanish Government was considered, announcing in time the intention to buy, the impact on the market has been outstanding. On December 19, the share traded at 2.46 euros, so that 10% of the company was valued at 2,050 million euros. If the average price of SEPI’s purchases was, according to the information published yesterday, 4.02 euros per share, it represents a disbursement 11.4% higher than the estimate at the time of the announcement.
The Spanish Government has argued the decision to inform of its intentions, contrary to what is usual in stock market operations of this kind, in favor of “informational transparency”. A transparency that at all times has been justified by the State’s intention to counter Saudi Telecom’s participation in “the most strategic Spanish company”, as assured by the then First Vice-President and Minister of Economy, Nadia calviño
The company, owned by the sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia, announced on December 8 that it had acquired 4.5% of Telefónica’s shares, in addition to having built a derivatives portfolio of another 5% . A purchase option that could be executed before a year, that is to say, it would have a deadline until September, despite the fact that market sources point to the fact that it could carry out the purchase once Spain’s final position is known.
In principle, all the cards of the public intervention in Telefónica are already on the table. The 10% acquired and a representative on the company’s board of directors. Carlos Ocaña, an economist co-author with the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, of the book La nueva diplomacy económica española, published in 2014.
The Saudis, at the moment, have not requested to participate in this board of directors and officially the only known attitude is that the interest in Telefónica is purely financial. It is also necessary to see if the Spanish Government is satisfied with Ocaña as a man of trust, together with Javier de Paz until before this operation the man of the PSOE in this governing body, or if it wants to gain more weight. There is no official confirmation of the latter, but to carry it out legally, the State would need at least 13.4% of the capital of the company led by José María Álvarez-Pallete.
