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STAT OF WEEK
Dream deal ONLINE travel agency eDreams Odigeo has successfully refinanced its debt through €425 million of guaranteed bonds, due in 2023. The move enables the company to extend the maturity of its debt to five years and increase flexibility with the National Securities Market Commission. It will also mean that eDreams will save more than €12 million in annual interest payments, improving cash flow. The deal is expected to be finalised on September 25.
€15 billion
20 - 26 September 2018 This is the valuation of CEPSA, the second biggest oil company in Spain which has announced its intention to float 25 per cent of its shares on the stock market.
FINANCE
business & legal
Strong exchange
Court to make big call A SPANISH court is to decide within days whether or not to extradite Herve Falciani, a former HSBC analyst who leaked documents alleging widespread tax evasion, to Switzerland. Mr Falciani was arrested in Madrid in April on his way to a conference on the need to protect whistleblowers, but was released on bail. He has already been convicted of industrial espionage in Switzerland in absentia for the scandal that be-
by Tara Rippin came known as ‘Swiss Leaks.’ A Swiss court handed him a fiveyear jail sentence in 2015 but the 46year-old has avoided the country since. The Franco-Italian national worked for the Swiss branch of HSBC and became known as ‘the man who terrifies the rich’ after leaking information in 2008 that alleged HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm helped 79,000 clients evade billions
of euros in taxes. “Whistle-blowers must be defended, because their information stops such cases from remaining without consequences,” he said after the hearing. The information that Mr Falciani previously passed to French tax authorities has led to the prosecution of high profile individuals including Emilio Botin, late chairman of Spanish bank Santander, and Arlette Ricci, heir to the Nina Ricci perfume empire.
GLOBAL EXCHANGE, a Spanish company specialising in offering currency exchange services at international airports, has clinched a deal to become the main operator of the service at Istanbul New Airport. It is the biggest airport contract in the history of the company in what will be the largest airport presence in the world with 40 offices. The inauguration of the airport, which is currently completing its construction, is scheduled for October 29.
Taxes on the rise
» BUSINESS EXTRA
Home sale BANKIA has put more than 4,300 properties up for sale with discounts of up to 40 per cent, and while 2,900 are homes, the rest include industrial buildings, commercial premises and offices.
Bank boost
TAX REFORM: Ms Montero is looking for ways to raise tax receipts. THE Spanish government has announced that it will be able to raise €4 billion for the Treasury by raising corporation and fuel tax, as well as a financial transactions tax. Finance Minister Maria Jesus Montero said those who earn over €150,000 a year will also see their income tax rate rise to 52 per cent, bringing in a further €400 million.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has hinted that he wants to raise Spain’s tax payments as a percentage of GDP from 38 per cent to 46 per cent, in line with the European average. But opposition party Podemos does not believe that PSOE is doing enough to raise revenues, and believes tax increases for the wider public can be achieved without causing undue hardship.
CHANGES to the international accounting standard mean that the fall in value of Telefonica’s shares during the year will not have a negative effect on the income statements of its main shareholders (BBVA and CaixaBank).
Travel sick THE Mallorcan Barcelo Group aims to raise revenues to expand its hotel empire by putting its trave l d i v i s i o n , Av o r i s R e i n venting Travel, up for sale at a value of €350 million, and is in talks with two private equity funds.
Eurofinsa takes a piece of Isolux ISOLUX, an engineering and construction group that went bankrupt more than a year ago, has sold its production unit to Eurofinsa. Eurofinsa will use the site to expand its renewable energy network, and will take on 20 workers from Isolux. The deal was settled for around €150,000, although it also includes the absorption of Isolux’s €1.5 million debt.
It will open the door for Eurofinsa into a renewables industry it has previously had no experience in. Eurofinsa operations director Raphael Benatar said: “This purchase will allow the company to compete at the highest international level in projects relating to transmission lines, and solar and electric power, among others.”