Business Roundup for Spain and the UK

Another Ortega purchase Amancio Ortega has reached an agreement to pay approximately €53 million for Mint Building, an Edinburgh office block.

The Inditex founder’s Pontegadea Family Office, the private company that handles his wealth, will take over the building that was owned until now by the Texas-based Hines property investment group.

Built in 2019, the nine-storey, 5,500-square metre building located in St James Square in the centre of Edinburgh is fully occupied by tenants who include wealth management platform FNZ, Nationwide and the Franco Manca and Tattu restaurants.

Down the drain Credit ratings agency Moody’s have downgraded Thames Water’s highest-ranked bonds from Baa3 to Ba2, equivalent to junk.

Thames Water needs to maintain two investment-grade ratings in order to retain its licence unless water services’ regulator Ofwat decides to accept only one.  At the same time, Ofwat has opposed Thames Water plans to increase consumer bills by 44 per cent over the next five years, and instead will permit a 23 per cent hike to £535 (€637.10) over the same period.

The Ofwat decision was directly responsible for the downgrade, Moody’s explained, as this had contributed to Thames Water’s “weakening liquidity.”

A bright future Banco Sabadell, fending off a hostile takeover bid from BBVA, reported a net profit of €791 million between January and late June, 2024.

This was 40.3 per cent more than the same period in 2023 and outstripped by 8.2 per cent Bloomberg analysts’ predicted €731 million.  As a result, Sabadell will now pay out €2.9 billion in dividends 2024 and 2025, an increase of €500 million.

Chairman Josep Oliu expressed his satisfaction with the bank’s activity and first-half results, while chief executive Cesar González-Bueno noted that Sabadell’s performance reflected its “radical transformation” over the past three years.

“As we look ahead, we know we have a bright future,” Gonzalez-Bueno said.

A plus for London French mass-media company Vivendi will float its Canal+ television channel in London.

The City welcomed the announcement at a time when companies like Cambridge-based microchip giant ARM have decided to leave London and move to New York.

Vivendi said it had decided to list in London to emphasise the international orientation of Canal+ which is currently involved in a £2.2 billion (€2.6 billion) takeover of Multichoice, Africa’s leading pay-TV operator.

Air Europa deal unlikely IAG’s hopes of taking over Air Europa crumbled after the British Airways and Iberia owner failed to allay Brussels’ monopoly concerns.

The airline’s proposed remedies, which would have relinquished half of Air Europa’s slots to rival companies, were not enough to permit a merger, EU officials told IAG and Air Europa on July 22.

The Competition Commission will announce its decision on August 20 although the Financial Times revealed that insiders believed the likelihood that the €500 million deal could be blocked were “very high.”

No lifebelt Th UK government will not rescue Harland & Wolff with a £200 million (€238.3 million) Export Development Guarantee.

There was a “very substantial risk” that taxpayers’ money would be lost, the government told the shipbuilder, which employs more than 1,500 people.

Harland & Wolff also announced on July 22 that its chief executive John Wood was taking leave of absence “with immediate effect” and said the company’s talks with lenders regarding new loan facilities were expected to last “several days.”