The Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, assured this Wednesday that Talgo is a “strategic company” and that the Government will analyze “well” the profile of its eventual future owners.
“If the Government gives the permits, it will be with the conviction that strategic control is maintained,” he assured at the inauguration of the new Cupra Center in Madrid.
His statements come regarding the interest of the Hungarian consortium Ganz-MaVag in launching a takeover bid for 100% of the shares of the Spanish company, whose stock market value is around 600 million euros.
Behind this investor is the Magyar Vagon group, owned by businessman Andras Tómbor, known among other things for his links with the Hungarian president, Viktor Orbán.
The process, stated Hereu, is in full “negotiation”, but “evidently who the investors are is being analyzed very well.” “The Government always has the power to decide whether or not it is of strategic interest, and the railway industry is one of the country’s strategic industries,” he stated.
Founded in 1942, Talgo has plants in Spain and manufactures trains such as the high-speed Avril. Not only does it supply the trains for the largest Spanish railway project to date abroad, the AVE to Mecca, but it has large contracts in Europe, including some with the German operator Deutsche Bahn.
Magyar Wagon aspires to launch a takeover bid at 5 euros per share, compared to the current price of 4.5 euros, but has encountered the CNMV’s refusal to authorize the offer due to the existence of several clauses with Talgo’s creditors that They allow the financial conditions of the contracts to be modified in the event of a change of ownership.
“There is no certainty” that the takeover will go ahead, says the Hungarian group, which is negotiating an agreement with the creditor banks to avoid having to renew the debt of the Spanish company.
Talgo’s first shareholder is the American fund Trilantic, which has 40% of the capital and wants to give access to new investors. There are other shareholders such as the Torreal family office, owned by Juan Abelló, or the founding family, the Oriols, who participate with Trilantic in the company Pegasus Transportation, which is the company that directly holds the largest percentage of shares.
Separately, two heirs of the founders, José María de Oriol Fabra and Carlos de Palacio y Oriol, declare to the CNMV shares of 1.28% and 0.86%, respectively.
