Indra's staff learned this Wednesday who has been president for two weeks, Àngel Simón. Both the Catalan executive and the CEO, José Vicente de los Mozos, have summoned employees and explained the company's situation, where the top management has just experienced an earthquake with the departure of the then-leader, Ángel Escribano. The change of presidency, however, is not presented as a turnaround: "Now we are starting this new phase with Àngel Simón, who also supports the [company's] strategic plan," De los Mozos stated this Wednesday morning, during an appearance at a forum organized by El Español. In fact, he has taken on the executive functions as CEO, not Simón. The executive joined the company in 2023, under the mandate of Marc Murtra.

Easter has arrived with a surprise. Although a change at the helm of the technology and defense company Indra was already expected after the resignation of Àngel Escribano as president, the appointment of Àngel Simón to replace him has made all the headlines. Simón's proposal was made by the Spanish government through the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI), its investment arm, which is Indra's largest shareholder with 28% of the share capital. the appointment of Àngel Simón to replace him has made all the headlines. Simón's proposal was made by the Spanish government through the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI), its investment arm, which is Indra's largest shareholder with 28% of the share capital.

Ángel Simón (Manresa, 1957) starred in April of last year in one of the most talked-about divorces on the Catalan and Spanish business scene, when he was dismissed as CEO of Criteria, the investment arm of La Caixa. A long relationship with the president of La Caixa and Criteria, Isidre Fainé, had been broken. And one of the sparks to end a term that lasted about 15 months was the dismissal of José María Álvarez-Pallete at the head of Telefónica –participated by Criteria–, in agreement with Moncloa by Simón and behind Fainé's back, according to various sources. For a year, Simón, an executive accustomed to dealing with the Spanish and Catalan socialist governments, had disappeared from the public scene. And now he reappears in the midst of a power struggle at Indra, a company destined to lead the defense business, with the State, through SEPI, as the main shareholder (28%).

La Caixa, Spain's largest economic, financial, business, and philanthropic network, has secured its future, at least until 2030. In a move to preserve the independence of the Foundation, the group's parent organization, Isidre Fainé (Manresa, 1942) will remain as chairman for a significant portion of the current administration, whose term ends this week. This continuity and stability, characteristic of the organization, ensures coverage of the strategic plan, which anticipates investing €4 billion by 2030. La Caixa is one of Spain's largest financial institutions, with a market capitalization exceeding €37 billion. Last November, after dismissing CEO Ángel Simón in March, Fainé promoted changes to Criteria's roadmap through 2030 to better align it with the Foundation's interests and objectives. This powerful organization, with its financial, business, and social influence, has been headed by Fainé since 2014, when it ceased to be a savings bank, of which he was also president since 2007. Some sources claim that a key principle is that "Criteria works for the Foundation, not for it."

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.

The La Caixa Foundation plans to increase its social work budget to €800 million by 2030, up from €655 million in the current year, and invest a total of €4 billion over the next five years, according to the new 2025-2030 strategic plan unveiled today. This roadmap aims to "drive social transformation and respond to the challenges of the coming years" under the motto Believe to transformThe entity will focus its activities on three pillars: social, research and scholarship, and culture. In this new phase, the explicit mandate is for the foundation and its investment arm, Criteria, to act "in a coherent and coordinated manner," even strengthening "shared governance" after a change in management.

A new phase for Criteria, the investment arm of the La Caixa Foundation. The holding company has reviewed some of its latest investments, including the Catalan frozen dough manufacturer Europastry, according to a statement released by the company. The Confidential and sources close to the entity confirmed to ARA. This decision comes in the new era of Criteria with Francisco Reynés as first vice president, who took office a few weeks ago after the departure of Àngel Simón as CEO.

The major earthquake in management changes has been dominated this week by the news of Ángel Simón's departure as CEO of CriteriaCaixa, one year and four months after his appointment. His replacement at the helm of La Caixa's investment arm will be Naturgy's executive chairman, Francisco Reynés. Beyond this move, former Congress president Meritxell Batet returns to the headlines by joining Ebro Foods, the president of Celsa will also become president of Veolia Spain, and a Mango veteran is leaving. These are the week's key signings.

On April 16, just before the Easter holidays, something unusual occurred at La Caixa, the country's leading business conglomerate. The group chaired by Isidre Fainé is a world of "teamwork, with visible leaders, but without too much obsession with notoriety, and even less so with that related to conflicts," explain sources familiar with the universe of Miró's star.

"I was surprised; he was appointed not long ago," a senior representative of Catalan civil society told ARA. "It was a long-awaited appointment when he landed at Criteria," adds this source, who worked with Àngel Simón for several years. In fact, this is the majority opinion of those consulted by this newspaper regarding this major news: Simón's premature dismissal as CEO of Criteria. "What are you saying? Did this happen today?" asks another representative of civil society. Surprise, a year later, is mixed with disbelief.

Francisco Reynés Massanet (Palma, 1963), the new strongman at CriteriaCaixa, the investment arm of La Caixa (with the largest portfolio of business holdings in Spain), has now established himself as one of the most trusted figures of the Foundation's president, Isidre Fainé. The first sign of this rise for the Naturgy CEO came at the beginning of the month, when Reynés became a trustee of the La Caixa Foundation, the owner of the entire universe of the Miró star and the sole shareholder of Criteria.

Ángel Simón has stepped down as CEO of CriteriaCaixa one year and four months after his appointment. His replacement at the helm of La Caixa's investment arm will be Naturgy's executive chairman, Francisco Reynés, according to the La Caixa Foundation, which owns 100% of the investment holding company Criteria. The Board of Trustees of La Caixa, which Reynés joined as a patron at the beginning of the month, has also agreed to fill the vacancy left on the board by Simón with the appointment of Reynés as a director of CriteriaCaixa, with the aim that the company's board of directors will name him executive vice president in the coming weeks. Simón, who was the president of Agbar, was appointed CEO of CriteriaCaixa in January 2024 and was then considered one of the most trusted men of the president, with whom he shared his hometown of Manresa. Simón's appointment was interpreted in some banking circles as a successor and different voices suggested that he could be the main candidate to replace Fainé, president of the La Caixa Foundation, due to his control over CriteriaCaixa's subsidiaries and, through this company, over CaixaBank, the delegate had to lead CriteriaCaixa's strategic plan, presented last year. Currently, the portfolio of investments reaches €30 billion. The strategic plan aims to reach 2030 with gross assets of €40 billion and become one of the leading investment holding companies in Europe. Fainé, president of the foundation and of Criteria, has emphasized on several occasions that the holding company's strong results allow the La Caixa Foundation, which is funded by dividends from Criteria's holding companies, to have its largest budget in its history in 2025, at €655 million.

Criteria, the investment holding company of the La Caixa Foundation, plans to enter cybersecurity and technology businesses linked to defense in its broadest sense, according to the group's CEO, Àngel Simón.