The Ibex reunites with Catalonia
Representatives of major companies from the selective index met at an event attended by President Isla
Barcelona"We've never been there before." This was the response of Criteria's CEO, Àngel Simón, when asked about the return of the company's headquarters—and its parent company, the La Caixa Foundation—to Catalonia. His response to a journalist from Madrid, at an event organized by the financial daily Expansion, from the Unidad Editorial group. An intense event, opened by the mayor of Barcelona, the socialist Jaume Collboni, and closed by the president of the Generalitat, the also socialist Salvador Illa, and which featured a large presence of Catalan business leaders, but also representatives of the Ibex 35, something not seen for some time in Barcelona.
In fact, both Collboni and Illa explained Barcelona and Catalonia's commitment to attracting businesses and investment. Salvador Illa boasted about the good performance of GDP and employment, but added an objective: "Generate growth and prosperity, but not in any way and at any price." Throughout the day, the geopolitical and economic changes being implemented by the Trump administration were constantly discussed in their speeches.
Marc Puig, executive president of Puig, referred to Trump's tariffs, but without much concern for how they affect his company. Mauricio Lucena, president of Aena, brought up the "priority" need to expand El Prat Airport and thanked the current government for its willingness, while criticizing the "Byzantine debates like those that have taken place in Catalonia in recent years." Without them, he said, the expansion "could already have happened."
Two other topics loomed over the day: the energy transition, alongside the CEO of Endesa, José Bogas, and the president of Naturgy, Francisco Reynés. Bogas believes that, facing Catalonia's energy deficitPerhaps a state pact would be necessary to extend the life of nuclear plants. Reynés has made clear his commitment to renewable gases. The other topic was BBVA's takeover bid for Sabadell. The president of the Basque bank, Carlos Torres, defended him by appealing to his bank's roots in Catalonia (it acquired six of the ten Catalan savings banks) and its global commitment. Carlos Ventura, CEO of Sabadell, made it clear that the Catalan bank is continuing with its solo plans: "We are thinking about what Sabadell will be like in 2030," he concluded.
