La Caixa announced yesterday a strategic turn, the result of a long maturation period that Isidre Fainé began to design at the end of 2021 and which will mean that Criteria, owner of the largest industrial investment portfolio in Spain, scale the relevant actor policy in the configuration of the business map. It had done so until the great financial crisis of 2008, which so strongly punished the financial sector and the banks and forced the Catalan entity to fold.
Now the situation is different. The recovery of profits, especially, although not only, from banks through CaixaBank, is a reality. During the just ended 2023, Criteria’s profits will have been close to 1,000 million. Figures that ensure the support of the foundation and stimulate a more ambitious policy.
On the other hand, the challenges of economic globalization, geostrategic tension and corporate concentration call for more energetic intervention in the companies in which it participates. With the assumption of greater involvement and alignment with the strategic interests of the Spanish economy.
And yesterday the Criteria board took the first step in this new direction with the appointment of Ángel Simón as first executive. A road engineer far removed from accounting pointillism, struggling in defining the major master lines of multinationals and relevant service companies. Accustomed to strategic decisions and with fluid direct interaction with governments and administrations; of different colors and sensitivities.
At the same time, it is a person of the house, three decades in different responsibilities, always in the Agbar environment, and of the utmost confidence of Fainé. A more than relevant fact in moments of speculation in the capital about an alleged maneuver to politicize the entity in the framework of the negotiations for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
Successive readings will also be made of yesterday’s change, but the reality is that what has been started is a tandem led by a president who has a new mandate of four more years and an Executive with strategic investment projects.
Criteria plays a particularly important role in the Spanish economy and, therefore, in the Catalan economy, and there is no investment instrument that can be compared to it.
The central government will undoubtedly welcome the new direction with interest, since the existence of an agent of these characteristics is essential to ensure strategic positions for the large Spanish companies at a time when winds of economic protection are blowing in Europe against unwanted external landings.
Two cases currently stand out above the others in the Spanish business landscape. And in both La Caixa occupies a crucial position. These are Naturgy and Telefónica. In the first, the large Spanish gas operator, the movements of the large funds have generated anxiety from the first moment in the Spanish Government. The latter has even gone so far as to question proposals to split the group to please foreign investors. For the Spanish Executive, La Caixa’s 27% stake is life insurance.
In the telecommunications operator, with a smaller shareholding percentage of the two Spanish investors, La Caixa and BBVA, the arrival of the Saudi State has led the Government to announce that it will buy up to 10% of the capital to secure the position. A move with a lot of friction that requires stable allies with financial muscle. Finally, there is the country’s largest bank, CaixaBank, where 30% of Criteria dissuades any unwanted approach.
