The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has assured that the Public Acquisition Offer (OPA) launched by the Ganz-Mavag group for Talgo poses a “geopolitical problem”, which is why he is waiting for a Spanish alternative by other investors, with the sponsorship of the Government of Spain if necessary, as stated this Monday during his speech at an informative breakfast organized by Europa Press
Puente has once again insisted on the strategic nature of Talgo and the need to protect the company’s shareholding structure. “We are observing the takeover bid with the utmost care and waiting for other actors to come into play, including investors and other manufacturers. An alternative can be established without the sponsorship of the Government, but if it had to be sponsored, we would consider that option. “That’s where we are,” he assured.
Puente’s wishes do not seem easy to materialize. The only Spanish company with the industrial profile capable of establishing itself as a white knight in this possible takeover bid would be CAF and the Basques have already confirmed “that they are not interested.”
The French Alstom would be an option although it seems complicated since Puente is immersed in a dialectical battle with the French Government over the ways in which the train operator from its country Ouigo is developing its activity in Spain after the liberalization of passenger transport by rail.
A third option would be Stadler. The German option could be viable as a measure to overcome the problems that Talgo is currently facing in dealing with the largest contract in its history that it signed with the German railway operator Deutsche Bahn.
Few more options appear on the board, from a problem that Puente has described as “geopolitical” because Talgo has technology that even concerns the military mobility of other countries such as the Baltics, and possible Russian or extreme links still weigh. right of the Hungarian offeror (participated by the State of Hungary) to which the minister has already referred on some occasions.
In addition to all this, Puente does not believe that the Ganz-Mavag factories in Hungary have sufficient capacity to solve all the production problems that Talgo has. “Talgo’s technology is very modern. We are not very clear that the factories in Hungary have the capacity to, in the short term, solve the problem of lack of production that Talgo has. It is not the same as having a factory there, well, because it is half empty, with a workforce accustomed, for example, to grinding, that aluminum welding technology does not seem to be as easy to do in Hungary as it is said,” he justified.
The minister thus confirms the Government’s position of vetoing the operation, although not with the same tone that he used a few weeks ago when he assured that he would do “everything possible” to stop the takeover bid.
