The history of Spanish democracy is almost the history of the impact of petrodollars on our economy and our companies. For historical and cultural reasons, relations between the Persian Gulf countries and Spain were quite fluid in the 20th century. Beyond the Arab currency’s obscure relationship to political and institutional power, the official debut of petrodollars took place in the mid-1980s, with full economic liberalization by the Felipe González Government. These initial investments were later replaced by fruitful relations between major Spanish business groups. An example of this is the long-standing relationship between Cepsa and Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates, which became a minority shareholder in the company in 1988. Or more recently Qatar’s investments in companies like Iberdrola. The Qatari investment arm also holds shares in token companies such as the Prisa group or El Corte Inglés. Add to that the $2,100 million that Saudi Arabia will enter the capital of Telefónica from this Wednesday. The sum of all these investments amounts to 16 billion 577 million euros.
In the 1980s, the Kuwait Investment Office (KIO), the investment arm of the Kuwaiti government, took control of the Catalan company Torras Hostench, which was added to acquisition operations such as Cros, Ebro sugar company or Explosivos Río Tinto. Merged with Cros, giving birth to the holding company Ercros. The architect of this dizzying growth that transformed the KIO Group into the largest industrial conglomerate operating in Spain in the early 90s was financier Javier de la Rosa.A man with the complete confidence of Kuwaitis and one of the defining characters of Spain’s culture. ball.
It has rained a lot since the KIO days, but money from the Persian Gulf has positioned itself among the main Spanish groups. Although BlackRock is currently one of Ibex’s largest shareholders, it adds investments of close to 20,000 million euros. The Arab currency also gained an important place among the flagships of the country. companies Spanish. The Qatar Investment Authority holds up to 9,000 million in Ibex 35, either directly or through other companies. The state fund has been a shareholder of Ibedrola, the largest listed company on Ibex, since 2011 and currently holds 8.7% of Ibex. It is stated that its capital is worth 6 billion 106 million euros. Qatari money is also held in shares of other major Ibex companies, such as the Colonial real estate company (19%), which is valued at the equivalent of 570 million, and the Spanish-British group IAG (25%), which is valued at approx. 2.359 million.
Other investments in symbolic companies with Qatari money are those of El Corte Inglés and the Prisa group.. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jaber al Thani owns 11.07% of the capital of the department stores, but the Spanish group has agreed to pay around 387 million euros to buy back 5.53% in June 2022. In the example of the In the Prisa group, Qatari royal family member Khalid Thani Abdullah Al-Thani holds a 4.91% stake in the capital, which is equivalent to about €19 million at the current value of Prisa. Qataris indirectly continue their hotel investments, especially in Barcelona. Qatar Diar came to pay up to 200 million euros for the W hotel. In 2014, Marriott sold the Renaissance hotel in Barcelona to the Qatar Army fund for 78.5 million euros.
Apart from the main companies of the elite, which is the investment arm of the United Arab Emirates, Mubadala owns a 3% stake in Enagás, equivalent to approximately 123 million by the company’s current market capitalization.. The Emirates also control shares of the energy company Cepsa. They owned 100 percent of the capital, but sold 37 percent of it to the Carlyle fund in 2019 for about $2,900 million, meaning the Saudi participation in the energy company would be equivalent to €4,900 million at this market price.
Kyo’s fall
For KIO and Javier de la Rosa, the greatest influence of the media occurred in the late 1980s; through one of their investment trusts, Cartera Central, they dynamited the merger project of the then major Central banks (where they controlled more than 25 banks). %) and Banesto. A union that could take the then very young (but 40 years old) Mario Conde to the top of the big Spanish banks in a matter of months..
KIO’s story was just as amazing when it landed as it was when it fell. The company’s top manager in Spain, Javier de la Rosa, was fired in 1991 and 1992, accused of embezzlement and fraud by the Saudi authorities himself.Torras Group submitted the largest suspension of payments in Spanish history at the time, with a liability of 243,000 million pesetas; for this would now be a ridiculous figure of 1,500 million euros.