Carlos Ocaña Orbis is the man appointed by the Spanish Government to represent the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) on the Telefónica board of directors. The appointment will take place, if there are no last-minute changes, at the meeting that the management body of the company chaired by José María Álvarez-Pallete plans to hold today in Madrid.
The appointment will be made by co-optation, that is to say, the departure of a member of Telefónica’s current board of directors will be necessary, which will be Carmen García de Andrés, president of the Tomillo Foundation and member of Telefónica’s board of directors since 2017.
The Spanish Government’s decision to place a representative in the “most strategic company in Spain”, as defined by Nadia Calviño, had already been advanced by her replacement at the head of the Ministry of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo. We just needed to know who would be the chosen one.
Since yesterday it has been known that he is a man closely linked to the Socialist Party and the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez.
Ocaña, whose main occupation since 2012 has been assistant to the general manager of Real Madrid, began his working career as deputy director of the economic office of the President of the Spanish Government between 2004 and 2008. Subsequently, he was director general of Miguel Sebastián’s cabinet at the Ministry of Industry between 2008 and 2011. He has been on the boards of public companies such as Paradores or Redes.es and has been an advisor in private companies between which highlights his current position on the Prisa digital transformation committee, which he joined in 2021. Ocaña was co-author with Pedro Sánchez of the book La nueva diplomacy económica española, published in 2014.
As of Wednesday, Ocaña will be the direct, intermediary-free link of the Spanish Government to Telefónica. Until now, this role of man of the PSOE was attributed to Javier de Paz, who maintains his position.
With this move, SEPI exercises its right of representation as a shareholder of 6.169% of Telefónica’s capital, according to the latest information published by the National Securities Market Commission. The objective of the public body is to achieve 10% to fulfill the mandate that was transmitted to it by the Council of Ministers on 19 December and which aims to guarantee that Telefónica responds to Spain’s strategic needs. It is a way of positioning itself in view of a possible move to enter the board of this company by STC, the telecommunications company owned by Saudi Arabian investment funds that in September announced, by surprise , who had acquired 4.9% of the Spanish company’s capital and another portfolio of 5% in derivatives, which, if executed, would make him the first shareholder. STC then assured that it was interested in being an investment partner in Telefónica and, as far as is known, it has not yet communicated its intention to join the board either to the telco or to the Spanish Government.
