José Vicente de los Mozos is working on a strategic plan for Indra that he will present to the board of directors before the end of the year. Two months after his election, the CEO of the main national defense company advanced some of his priorities at the helm of a strategic company for the future government.
The former president of Renault in Spain wants to turn Indra into the “driver company” of the homeland defense industry. He did it in the automotive sector and now he wants to apply it to the military. His intention, De los Mozos advanced at a breakfast organized by the Nueva Economía Fórum, is to “sew, not engulf” a business conglomerate in which dozens of companies compete that do not have the capacity to internationalize their business on their own. Synergies. “If we are tractors, we can opt for international competitions,” said the company’s number two. Tecnobit, Sener, GMV or Hispasat are some of the companies that he cited as possible strategic allies in the future.
One of Indra’s pending operations is the entry into the shareholding of ITP Areo, the Basque company owned by Bain Capital. De los Mozos does not consider it urgent. Another decision that will have to be cleared up is the possible sale of Minsait, the technology area, a movement defended by Amber Capital, the fund chaired by Joseph Oughourlian that has just acceded to Indra’s advice. The new CEO limited himself to admitting that Minsait, directed by Luis Abril, has its own autonomy. “I don’t know if it’s going to sell,” he added.
De los Mozos, however, did point out that one of the lines of business that he wants to promote in his strategic plan is new technologies. “The great opportunity is to develop future technologies” in Spain, he said. He referred to artificial intelligence, Qantum, blockchain, cybersecurity… and admitted that “if we control the technologies of the future we will be able to influence the specifications that there will be.”
Regarding the FCAS, the new CEO of Indra pointed out that it is a “strategic project” for Spain”. In the Eurofighter, the European combat aircraft in operation today, Spain has 13%. In FCAS, on the other hand, the country’s participation amounts to one third. “It means multiplying by 2.5 the industrial role of Spain” in the future generation of combat aircraft. This is an opportunity for companies and Indra wants to play this double role, as an industrial partner and as a driving force to involve other more modest ones.
Indra’s internal governing body could undergo some changes depending on the composition of the next national Executive. At this time, the State Company for Industrial Participations (SEPI) has three representatives on the board of directors, the former Minister of Industry, Miguel Sebastián, the economist Juan Moscoso and the former PSOE deputy Antonio Cueva. The future Ministry of Finance also has the option of expanding the composition of the council and for SEPI to have four representatives.
