Telefónica faces a crucial council with the Saudi entry into its capital

2023-09-26 14:41:01

This Wednesday, September 27, Telefónica faces one of its most important boards of directors in recent times, in the midst of the emergence of Saudi Telecom Company (STC) in the operator by acquiring 9.9%.

José María Álvarez-Pallete is expected to chair the meeting of the company’s highest control body. A meeting that, although it was already planned as it was of an ordinary nature – the members of the board were already convened before September 5, when the Saudi landing in the operator became known – will be marked by uncertainty regarding the future of the shareholding, if in the end The operation goes ahead with the approval that the Council of Ministers must give to it.

The economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, already confirmed this Monday that the Government has not yet received the official communication from STC, so they cannot act in this regard. But she assured that she closely monitors the movement.

At the moment, Álvarez-Pallete faces the challenge of explaining to the rest of the main shareholders – BlackRock, BBVA and CaixaBank – possible details of his recent trip to Riyadh after learning about the operation that neither the president of the company nor the Executive himself knew about, according to have revealed in recent weeks.

It must be remembered that, on the Spanish side, BBVA and CaixaBank are the two reference shareholders, with 4.85% and 3.5% respectively. Both will be represented this Wednesday on the board by Isidro Fainé, president of Criteria CaixaBank, and José María Abril, on behalf of BBVA.

But BlackRock, the operator’s second shareholder with 4.48% after the emergence of STC, will also ask for explanations regarding the future of the company and, above all, the board seats, since it is foreseeable that although the Saudi group has indicated that he does not want to change anything in the management of Telefónica, he will end up requesting a seat on the body, as would correspond to his position as the largest shareholder. It must be taken into account that the arrival of Saudi capital would balance the forces between the company’s main foreign investors.

The US fund has been, in fact, one of the great concerns of Telefónica’s leadership in recent times. Especially after the last shareholder meeting voted against the remuneration of senior management. But not only that. Despite being the main shareholder until now, BlackRock continues to bet on Telefónica’s shares on the stock market.

Specifically, and according to the records of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the so-called short positions held on the value – investments in which one bets on the fall of the stock in question – have increased in recent years. days at 0.6%, from 0.5% at the beginning of the year.