Neither did Europastry. The other investment announced by Àngel Simón—the former CEO of Criteria, the investment arm of the La Caixa Foundation, who was dismissed a few weeks ago—has been definitively rejected by the current team, of which Francisco Reynés, executive chairman of Naturgy, is the first vice president.

There was a time when banks had powerful industrial portfolios. An example was Banesto, when Mario Conde was its chairman, which was swallowed up by Santander; or BBVA itself, which had been one of the key shareholders of Telefónica and Gamesa (now part of the Siemens group). When it was a savings bank, La Caixa was—and still is in some cases—the key partner in companies such as Gas Natural (now Naturgy), Agbar, Abertis, and Repsol, and it maintained this vocation, which was frowned upon by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Spain.

La Caixa, through its investment arm, Criteria, is deepening its strategy of strengthening the local productive fabric, acquiring a 20% stake in the Catalan company Europastry. The transaction, which will involve a disbursement of around €300 million, follows four unsuccessful attempts to go public by the manufacturer of frozen dough for bakeries, a leader in this activity internationally.