National fallout from Ferrovial’s bombshell decision to relocate headquarters to Netherlands

AS expected, reactions to multinational Ferrovial’s decision to relocate its headquarters to the Netherlands were not slow in arriving.

Nadia Calviño, Spain’s principal vice-president and Minister for Economic Affairs, criticised the decision, although the infrastructures giant will continue to pay tax on its earnings in Spain, amounting to an annual €280 million.  Nor will Ferrovial president Rafael del Pino’s decision affect the five thousand or more employees working for the group inside Spain.

But speaking to an Onda Cero interviewer, Calviño declared that Ferrovial ought to have a certain degree of commitment towards Spain.  The multinational owed much of its growth – and wealth – to its multimillion public contracts inside the country over the last 40 years, she said.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, declined to comment on  Ferrovial’s bombshell but emphasised that the decision to relocate its headquarters demonstrated the importance of creating a single market for capital.

“We must fight for the Capital Markets Union,” Lagarde said.

“Different languages, different legal frameworks – we are making progress but not fast,” she said during an Antena 3 interview, her first with a Spanish broadcaster.

Meanwhile, the National Securities Market (CNMV) questioned Del Pino’s claim that it would be easier to access the US stock exchange from the Netherlands than Spain.

“We are unaware of these hypothetical problem for dual listing,” CNMV sources said.

“If the company told us about the obstacles we would study them but until now, apart from what was communicated on February 28, they have said nothing more.”

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