La Caixa returns its headquarters to Catalonia

BarcelonaThe La Caixa Foundation, which includes the CriteriaCaixa holding company, has agreed to return its headquarters to Catalonia, CriteriaCaixa has informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). CriteriaCaixa is also returning its headquarters to Catalonia. Both entities are therefore recovering their traditional headquarters on Barcelona's Diagonal Avenue, which they had abandoned seven years ago when they moved it to Palma after the 1-O referendum.

Thus, La Caixa and Criteria follow in the footsteps of Banc Sabadell, which also returned the registered office to the city that gives its name to the bank in January. La Caixa, in October 2017, decided to move its registered office to Palma, while CaixaBank, which is the entity's main holding, moved it to Valencia, where it remains. The so-called flight of companies occurred thanks to the so-called Guindos decree, of the PP government, which allowed companies to move their registered office without the approval of the shareholders' meeting. The return of the headquarters occurs Shortly after the renewal of the foundation's management.

According to the La Caixa Foundation, the decision to return the headquarters to Catalonia was taken "unanimously and in an extraordinary session" of the entity's board of trustees that was held this Wednesday. The La Caixa Foundation has indicated that the decision was taken because "the circumstances that caused the temporary transfer of the headquarters to the city of Palma in 2017 no longer exist." The entity has also specified that the return does not involve movement of people or corporate spaces or services "since most of the employees and work centers have always been located in Barcelona."

Thus, the foundation chaired by Isidre Fainé joins the return of headquarters that has encouraged the current Government presided by Salvador Illa. In addition to Sabadell, important companies such as the Ordesa or Molins Laboratories. But the first company to return its headquarters to Catalonia of those who left due to the Process was Agbar, when its president was Àngel Simón, current CEO of CriteriaCaixa.

The La Caixa Foundation is among the most important in the world, and historically its endowment has only been surpassed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the United States and the British Wellcome Trust. For this 2025 will increase its budget by 9% to 655 million euros, which is "a record in the history of the entity", as reported by the Foundation itself.

In addition, the La Caixa Foundation owns 100% of CriteriaCaixa, the largest holding company in Spain, with interests in CaixaBank, Telefónica, Naturgy and ACS, among other companies. In fact, Criteria's holdings amount to almost 29 billion euros. Among the main holdings are banking, with 3.17% of CaixaBank, 9.1% of Inbursa and 19.33% of Bank of East Asia (BEA). In addition, Criteria also has a large industrial portfolio, with 26.7% of Naturgy, 9.99% of Telefónica, 9.36% of ACS, 3.05% of Puig, 99% of Saba, 15% of the joint venture Aigües de Barcelona and 100% of CaixaCap. This Tuesday, Criteria announced a New investment of over 1 billion to buy 5% of Veolia, the parent company of the Agbar group.

CriteriaCaixa's portfolio of holdings also has a significant real estate component, with 100% of InmoCaixa, which has more than 2.5 billion euros in assets; in addition to a 17.5% stake in Colonial, the company specialising in the management of office assets in the Barcelona, ​​Madrid and Paris markets. In fact, most of the companies in which CriteriaCaixa has a stake also moved their headquarters outside Catalonia after the 1-O, following in the footsteps of the company with the Miró star.

In the statement to explain its decision, the La Caixa Foundation has recalled that its roots are Catalan since its foundation in 1904 by the lawyer Francesc Moragas, with the support of Catalan civil society, which gave it the name Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez y de Ahorros de Cataluña y Baleares. In fact, when the headquarters in Catalonia was removed, it was moved to Palma precisely because of the link with the Balearic Islands. And in its statement, the Foundation has stressed that its commitment to the Islands and the city of Palma "remains unchanged" and highlights that the board of trustees will continue to hold the same meetings periodically as until now.

No movement from CaixaBank

CaixaBank, the bank owned by CriteriaCaixa and the State (through the FROB) as the first and second shareholders, also moved its headquarters after 1-O, in this case to Valencia. But the return of its headquarters is more difficult, since the bank, when it already had its headquarters in the capital of the Valencian Community, absorbed Bankia, which was also domiciled in the city of Turia.

In fact, in CaixaBank's last results presentation, in January, when Sabadell had already decided to return to Catalonia, the bank's CEO, Gonzalo Gortázar, had to answer up to seven questions about the return of the headquarters. "In 2021 we carried out an operation with Bankia, an entity with a large presence in Valencia, also in other territories, particularly in Madrid, and at that time we decided to continue with the headquarters here," Gortázar explained. For this reason, said the CEO of CaixaBank, it is now "a different entity" and, for this reason, the location in Valencia "has no deadlines." "We are talking about an indefinite nature," he added.