Shareholders in Spanish company Ferrovial are due to vote on Thursday on whether to relocate the engineering giant to the Netherlands, a proposal that has angered the government in Madrid.
In late February, Ferrovial announced plans to merge with its Dutch subsidiary, FISE, a development that would include moving its tax base to the Netherlands. The company, which manages Heathrow Airport, has said the change of location is designed to ease its future listing on a US stock exchange.
The mooted relocation will be on the agenda of Ferrovial’s annual general meeting, scheduled for Thursday. With the Dutch move putting the engineering company at loggerheads with the Spanish government and triggering a political storm, there is enormous expectation surrounding the decision.
“Never has a private Spanish company’s shareholder meeting raised such interest among ordinary Spaniards,” note El País newspaper, which said the agm had taken on the status of “a matter of state”.
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On announcing the decision, Ferrovial, whose chairman is Rafael del Pino, pointed to the stability of the Netherlands’s judicial framework and its financing costs. It also said that remaining in Spain hampered its ambitions of listing on Wall Street.
That drew a fierce response from the leftist coalition government.
“In Spain there are extraordinarily positive examples of businesspeople who are committed to our country,” prime minister Pedro Sánchez said. “That is not the case with Mr Del Pino.”
Economy minister Nadia Calviño said that Spain “has given everything to Ferrovial. It’s a decision that goes against the interest and the image of our country.”
Noting that the awarding of public contracts to the firm, which was founded by Mr Del Pino’s father in 1952, has helped it become one of Spain’s biggest, the government also accused Ferrovial of planning the move to pay less tax, a claim it rejects.
Meanwhile, the announcement triggered fierce debate about Spain’s judicial security and the environment for international investment. Conservative opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo described the prime minister’s response to Ferrovial’s plan as that of “a hooligan” and said that “instead of insulting companies, the government should sit down and see what we can do to make them believe in and stay in Spain”.
Ferrovial subsequently backtracked somewhat on its initial reasons for wanting to leave, insisting that Spain’s judicial security was not in question. Since then, the government says it has been in contact with the company in an effort to persuade it to cancel the move. Deputy economy minister Gonzalo García said he has written to shareholders informing them that Spanish companies are able to apply for listing in the United States.
According to reports, a clear majority of shareholders is expected to vote in favour of the relocation, including Mr Del Pino himself, who owns 20 per cent of the company.
However, some high-profile names are opposed to it. They include the chairman’s brother, Leopoldo, who owns 4 per cent. Norway’s sovereign fund, which owns just over 1 per cent, originally said it would vote against the move but on Wednesday said it will vote in favour.
