Spain Business
Spain Business Brief - Thursday November 20 2008
By h.b. - Nov 20, 2008 - 1:09 PM
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The Spanish Minister for Industry, Miguel Sebastián, has said today that the Government will do ‘all that is possible’ to ensure that Repsol continues to be ‘independent and Spanish’. Sebastián described the company as ‘key’ for the energy supply.
It comes as the La Caixa savings bank has confirmed that it is in talks with the Russian company Lukoil for the sale of their Repsol shares, and amid reports that Lukoil want the 20% put up for sale by Sacyr Vallehermoso.
Criteria has also said today that it is in talks with the Russians to sell its Repsol shareholding as Lukoil tries to establish a 30% shareholding in the Spanish petrol company.
The opposition Partido Popular has said the sale should not happen and have criticised what they see as the ‘passivity’ of the Government.
Speaking on Tele 5 this morning, the Spanish Minister for the Economy, Pedro Solbes, said that the economy would hit bottom in the first quarter of next year and improve from the second quarter. He said that measures from the European Central Bank, a fall in the price of crude and the Euribor, together with lower inflation, would all help with the recovery.,
Cadena Ser this morning reports that a judge is to investigate the ex PP Minister, Francisco Álvarez Cascos, on reports that he sent a false message, which arrived on hundreds of telephones, saying that construction company Sacyr Vallehermoso was about to file for bankruptcy protection. The rumours led to a rapid fall in the share price of the construction company.
The European Union has approved an agricultural reform which will mean a 10% cut in direct subsidies. The EU wants to increase competition among dairies by limiting milk production, and help for tobacco growers will only be given to ‘small companies in difficulties’. The changes to the Common Agriculture Policy, CAP, come after a year of talks. Spanish farmers will receive 163 million less under the change.
Ebro Puleva is reported to be talking to British Sugar about the sale of its sugar business in Spain. Trading in shares in Ebro Puleva was temporarily suspended on the news by the CNMV, the regulatory body for the market, after they had fallen by 2.33%. Company Chairman, Antonio Hernández Callejas, confirmed to unions at the start of the month that the British offer was being studied along with others.
The continued bad data on the economy and the falls elsewhere in the world have set the Madrid market lower again today. At mid-trading the IBEX was down below the psychological 8,000 level to lows for the year. Sacyr Vallehermoso led the losers down 5% at midday.