Spain claims to have “necessary instruments” to evaluate investment in Telefónica

The acting Spanish Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Héctor Gómez Hernández, stated this Tuesday before the European Parliament that Spain has the “necessary instruments” to assess the “possible” Saudi investment in Telefónica, of which the Government of Spain has not yet had formal notification.

“As soon as we have formal knowledge of this operation, I can guarantee that Spain has the necessary instruments to value, weigh, weight, the possible investment in Telefónica,” Gómez indicated during an appearance at the International Trade Commission of the European Parliament.

Gómez, who detailed the objectives of the current presidency of Spain that is taking place this semester in the commercial field, responded to questions from MEPs about, among other matters, the purchase operation of part of the Telefónica shareholding by the Saudi group STC.

The acting minister highlighted that Spain has had a royal decree since July that “it adapts to the European framework and guarantees and ensures the security of investments.”

“The Spanish presidency will guarantee that investments are sustainable and do not affect strategic and development sectors within the EU framework”he assured the MEPs.

In subsequent statements to the press, Gómez insisted that the Spanish decree “offers all the guarantees and security to warn and address any investment that puts strategic sectors in Spain at risk.”

Firstly, he stressed that it is necessary for Spain to have “formal evidence of that operation to be able to study it in depth, assess the possible actions and, based on that, decide.”

“Evidently the Government of Spain, the Union itself, will always act firmly against actions that put strategic sectors at risk,” emphasized, and added that, in the specific case of Telefónica, they need to know in advance “the specific characteristics of the operation”.

According to Gómez, Spanish legislation “it is one of the most restrictive, one of the most forceful, one of the firmest within the Member States” of the EU.

The European Union has legislation to examine foreign direct investments that may pose a security risk in critical sectors, such as telecommunications, and the European Commission could even issue an opinion on a specific case although the decision to accept or not An investment would always depend on the competent Member State.

STC Group announced its entry into the Telefónica shareholding at the beginning of September, where it hopes to control a 9.9%, through the acquisition of 4.9% in stocks and other 5% through derivatives, which will be executed to convert into shares once the pertinent authorizations have been obtained.

The acquisition by the Saudi group of that stake, valued at 2.1 billion euros, will make it the first shareholder of Telefónica, provided it obtains the approval of the Ministry of Defense, since Telefónica offers telecommunications services to that department and, Therefore, it is a critical sector for national defense.

The acting first vice president of the Spanish Government, Nadia Calviño, confirmed on Sunday during the G20 summit in New Delhi that there is still no official notification of the operation to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Commerce, which is the step that would implement the evaluation process by the Government.

Source: EFE