Catalonia gains revenue and Madrid loses with the change of business headquarters

BarcelonaOne of the consequences of the independence process was the so-called exodus of companies from Catalonia, meaning companies that decided to move their registered offices from the Principality to other autonomous communities, especially Madrid, the Valencian Community, Aragon, and the Balearic Islands. Eight years later, the situation has normalized, and the negative balance of company headquarters relocations from Catalonia to other communities has decreased significantly. Furthermore, Catalonia is gaining more revenue than ever from these changes.

This is shown in the latest study by the company Informa, which has been analyzing company relocations within Spain since 2017. This latest report analyzes the period between January and August 2025. The first conclusion is clear: Catalonia's negative balance between companies leaving and arriving has fallen to a minimum, while Madrid, which in recent years had a positive balance—more companies arriving than leaving—is now in a negative balance, meaning it is losing more companies than it is gaining.

Thus, Madrid becomes the region with the most negative balance (-84), while the same period of the previous year had a positive balance (+206). "Madrid's negative balance contrasts with the positive balances recorded in previous studies," the report states, which also highlights that "Catalonia benefited economically with a positive balance of 3.208 billion euros." In fact, the loss of registered offices in Catalonia has fallen to a minimum: taking into account the companies that left and those that arrived in the Principality, the difference is -32, compared to -245 a year earlier. The region that gained the most registered offices in the analyzed period was Andalusia (+71), followed by the Balearic Islands (+43), the Canary Islands (+39), and Asturias (+29). The largest negative balances were for Madrid (-84), Catalonia (-32), Extremadura (-30), and Aragon (-29).

The business research company doesn't just tally the number of companies moving into and out of each region, but also the associated business. Therefore, it counts the latest known revenue of companies that relocate their headquarters. Thus, Catalonia, despite losing more headquarters than it gains, nevertheless increases its revenue. This is a phenomenon that has been occurring for some time, but which clearly skyrockets during the period studied, with a very clear push for the return of Criteria's headquarters from Palma to BarcelonaCaixa, the investment holding company of La Caixa, is a key partner of major companies such as CaixaBank, Naturgy, ACS, and Telefónica, among many others.

The Criteria effect

Thus, Catalonia leads the ranking of revenue gains between January and August 2025, with €3.208 billion. The next region with the highest revenue gain was Murcia, with €601 million. In contrast, Madrid lost €786 million in revenue during the analyzed period, and only the Balearic Islands registered greater losses, €2.187 billion, precisely due to the relocation of CriteriaCaixa's headquarters to Barcelona. However, if the CriteriaCaixa effect is excluded, Catalonia would still be the region with the highest revenue gain (€953 million), well above Madrid's €786 million loss.

One of the aspects analyzed in the report is the return to Catalonia of companies that decided to move their headquarters elsewhere because of the Catalan independence movement. The most notable returns were... from Banc Sabadell a year ago in the midst of BBVA's takeover bidand the aforementioned CriteriaCaixa. However, the report highlights that of the 9,544 companies that left Catalonia since 2017, only 7.74% have returned.

However, as the report highlights, "a return effect is also observed, with companies deciding to move their headquarters back to Catalonia after having previously relocated." A total of 739 companies have been identified in this situation. Around 81% of these companies had left in 2017 or 2018. The year with the highest number of returning companies was 2019, with 113. During the first eight months of 2025, 94 of the companies that had left due to the Catalan independence movement returned their headquarters to Catalonia. Between 2018 and 2025, of the 739 companies that returned to Catalonia, 444 did so from Madrid, clearly the region from which the most companies returned. A total of 84 companies returned from the Valencian Community and 69 from Aragon.