Ferrovial responds in writing to the Government’s pressure rejecting its arguments and that it use the Tax Agency and demanding “respect” from the company’s shareholders if they support the transfer of headquarters to the Netherlands. In the letter to which EL MUNDO has had access, the CEO of Ferrovial, Ignacio Madridejos, rejects the motivation that Secretary of State for the Economy, Gonzalo García Andrés, sent him the day before. “We do not share his statement in any way,” he stressed on behalf of the president of Ferrovial, Rafael del Pino, and the rest of the management.
The CEO refers to the position of the Ministry headed by Nadia Calviño that there is no “economic motivation” in the transfer of Ferrovial’s headquarters, because for the Government it is possible for it to list from Spain in the United States, something that the company denies . “Double listing from the Netherlands is an expeditious and well-known alternative, while the possibility of achieving it from Spain is without precedent and is subject to technical and operational questions that, in the best of cases, would make the timing of the release uncertain.” its hypothetical implementation”. Therefore, “Ferrovial’s board of directors has considered it preferable for the company’s interest to resort to proven channels of direct listing.”
Del Pino’s lieutenant is particularly harsh when the government spreads the idea that in the absence of economic motivation, the Tax Agency would exclude Ferrovial from the tax benefits of mergers in European territory, thus giving it a tax blow. “The Secretary of State for the Economy should not prejudge or condition the purely technical criteria that would apply to other organizations.” In this case, the Tax Agency.
However, he insists that there are “a plurality of reasons” beyond listing in the US to create the new Ferrovial from the Netherlands and assures that it is “an exciting project that has had the unanimous support of the board of directors and we hope it deserves the delight of our shareholders. He also reminds García Andrés that it is not the Government that evaluates the economic reasons of a company. “The various reasons and economic implications of the operation for the Company have been recorded. It will be the shareholders who have to assess them.”
Madridejos is confident that the pressure will not make a dent in the shareholders’ meeting this Thursday in which it is expected to approve the transfer of headquarters and therefore veiledly demands respect from the Government. “We convey our unequivocal commitment to Spain, our trust in its institutions and that they will respect the decision adopted by the shareholders of the company in exercise of a fundamental freedom known by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union as is the freedom of establishment”.
He concludes his letter, of two pages, reiterating that the change “will not affect the operational continuity of the Ferrovial group in Spain.”
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