This Thursday, Ferrovial became “the first company of Spanish origin and present on the IBEX, which is listed directly with ordinary shares on a United States stock exchange,” said its president, Rafael del Pino.
The comment was made to a group of correspondents, a few minutes after the ceremony of entry into the Nasdaq index, with the symbol FER, and after its titles suffered the volatility of the debut effect.
The starting price, the same one that closed the day before in Madrid, was just over $38 at the exchange rate. However, in pre-market trading, the price stood at $45, then plummeted to $38.2, before climbing to $48.8. From that point it rushed again, reaching more than nine retracement points from that ceiling ($39.12). There was a slide of ups and downs. Due to the volatility, Nasdaq suspended trading for five minutes shortly after the start.
Company sources indicated that it was normal for this to occur given the continuous flow of operations. “I think we will have to compare with yesterday’s (Wednesday) closing price and see what happened today with respect to the rest of the market. This must be looked at differently, in the medium term. One day is not significant. We will have to see it in the following years for the company compared to others,” Ignacio Madridejos, executive director of this global company dedicated to the construction and management of roads, airports or new energy infrastructures, responded to this initial volatility.
The morning had all the seasonings of celebrations for the challenge of reaching the goal after a long journey and for which achievement they made the decision to leave the Spanish headquarters, where Ferrovial was born in May 1952, “in an attic” Del Pino recalled with pride, to move to Amsterdam. The reason is that this should open the doors for them to take this step of reaching the US market, stressed its president, a circumstance that should give them access to many more investors.
The entire senior staff of the company, led by Del Pino and Madridejos, traveled to the Nasdaq headquarters, located in a place as symbolic as Times Square, and starred in the iconic campaign touch that marked the opening of the general session and of a particular story. The live applause was joined by those that were broadcast on the screens from various company headquarters.
“Our relationship with the government (of Pedro Sánchez) is good,” Del Pino replied briefly when reminding him of the controversy over this transfer of address. That move, Madridejos intervened, “is not that it has made it easier to get to Nasdaq, it is that it has made it possible.” As he stressed, this could not be done from Spain. “With ordinary shares, there is no Spanish company here and this is not possible.” had done until now,” he stressed.
“In 2023, we decided to carry out a corporate reorganization, which in addition to involving the transfer of our headquarters to the Netherlands, its ultimate objective was what we have achieved today, listing original shares directly on an American stock exchange,” he noted. President.
“It is a path that had not been taken. From Spain there is not a single precedent of companies that have done it and we came to the conclusion that we wanted to get here by an already known path, which other companies followed,” the executive director insisted.
“It was not a traumatic decision,” the president said in reference to moving from the Spanish capital to Amsterdam. He argued that it was a decision agreed upon by the board, with the support of 93% of those who had the right to vote.
In this way, Ferrovial becomes a company that is listed on three indices, in the United States, Spain and the Netherlands. “Our objective is not to reduce the level of investors we have in Europe and Spain, but to attract new investors who cannot access Ferrovial today. It’s about adding, not subtracting,” said Madridejos.
The only problem with this triple listing may be bureaucracy, but the chief executive clarified that this issue is overshadowed by “the benefits of attracting new investors.” Del Pino once again intervened sharply when it was asked if they plan to abandon the Ibex. “No, the answer is very clear,” he concluded.
25 years after entering the Madrid Stock Exchange, Ferrovial enters the US stock market two decades after starting to do business in the largest economy in the world and which currently continues to offer more offers and more money than anywhere else. Hence the operation to reach the Nasdaq.
The company has its US base in Texas, in Austin, a state where it began developing and managing highways. They then expanded to Virginia and North Carolina and today they are a main part of the gigantic project of the new terminal one of New York’s JFK airport, which in principle should be ready by mid-2026. In addition, with another business front in Canada, they are interested in betting on many other projects being developed in the United States. North America represents 80% of the company. About 70% of capital allocation occurs in the United States.
“We are convinced that this listing will make us more solid, will provide us with better access to financing and will also allow us to access a larger base of investors, and particularly American investors, and also clients and partners,” said Del Pino regarding the bet of entering the Nasdaq.
“Without a doubt it will be a driving effect for Ferrovial and with that we will create more jobs and we will also contribute to the development of our suppliers, among them Spanish suppliers,” he added.
