Indra defines the future of the company in the coming weeks. The majority-owned company by the State, through Sepi with 27.99%, has hired the headhunter company Egon Zehnder to find its new CEO, as La Vanguardia has learned.
The objective is for the consultant, with headquarters in Switzerland, to act as an adviser in the search for the successor to Ignacio Mataix, who was relieved by the board of directors a little less than a month ago.
It will be a search process that should not take too long, according to internal sources, and that will crystallize in the appointment of this new number two who will form a tandem with the current president, Marc Murtra. The objective of the board is to complete the election before the shareholders’ meeting, which will be held on June 30.
The finalist was Egon Zehnder, but Indra handled different names of national and international consultants. Company sources say they prefer not to confirm or deny the choice of the Swiss headhunting agency.
Indra is designing its business roadmap for the coming years, a parallel and complementary process to the election of the new CEO. It is the strategy commission, chaired by Murtra himself, who is drawing up said business plan for the coming years. Jokin Aperribay, representing Sapa, the former minister Miguel Sebastián, director proposed by the Treasury, and the independents Axel Arendt, Francisco Javier GarcÃa and Olga San Jacinto are also integrated into this team.
Mataix has already been separated from the company’s day-to-day activities, although he will act as a strategic advisor to the board. The already ex-director arrived at Indra in January 2018, barely half a year before the motion of censure that the PSOE won, as executive director. In May 2021 he was appointed CEO. But the discrepancies with Murtra were behind this decision, which will be momentous for the future of the company, considered one of the jewels in the crown of the public business conglomerate.
Indra completes the internal restructuring that will crystallize in the formation of a duo between Murtra and the future CEO. A new stage in which the company seeks to increase its income and profits in its two divisions, technology and defense and transportation, in a period of increased military spending.
Indra’s most emblematic project is currently the FCAS, the future European combat aircraft that will come into force in 2040. A sixth-generation fighter integrated into the digital cloud that will allow the pilot to receive information about his environment through drones accompanying the main aircraft. The company already has a team of 200 engineers starting to develop the device. It is the first time that Spain has participated in a community military project with the same level of involvement as Germany and France, and Indra has been chosen for this country’s strategic plan. The Spanish company will share a roadmap with the French giant Dassault and the multinational Airbus, which represents a huge growth opportunity for the company.
