Several investment funds have said they will vote in favour
and two independent proxy advisers recommended backing the move.
Chairman Rafael del Pino is Ferrovial's largest shareholder
with a 20.44% stake. His sister, Maria, has another 8.2%.
With a market capitalisation of 19.4 billion euros,
Ferrovial would rank about 13th in the Amsterdam index ,
where it would initially be dual-listed along with Madrid,
behind Shell and Unilever but ahead of high-profile Dutch
companies Philips, KPN and ABN Amro.
Ferrovial also wants to approach institutional funds in the
U.S. willing to buy stakes if it gets a listing there.
With 82% of its revenues coming from abroad, mainly in North
America, Ferrovial even evaluated moving its holding company to
Texas, but ultimately chose Europe and keeping its roots in
Spain, one of the people with knowledge of the discussions said.
If the plan is approved, some 30 Ferrovial employees will
move to the Netherlands to join the 12 currently working for its
subsidiary, where the company's global decisions will be taken.
($1 = 0.9098 euros)
(Reporting by Corina Pons; Editing by David Latona, Andrei
Khalip and Alexander Smith)
(Removes extraneous word, paragraph 2)
By Corina Pons
MADRID, April 13 (Reuters) - Ferrovial shareholders vote on Thursday on a plan to move the Spanish
construction group's holding company to the Netherlands, paving
the way to a listing in the U.S. and potentially access to
subsidies available there.
Chief Executive Ignacio Madridejos said in a letter seen by
Reuters that Ferrovial was not seeking any tax advantages by
moving to Amsterdam, while citing "technical and operational"
concerns over listing a Spanish company directly in the U.S.
Ferrovial's proposal has irked the Spanish government and
officials have warned that Spain's tax agency will closely
scrutinise the deal if it is approved.
The government fears more companies could follow suit and
argues that a full U.S. listing is perfectly possible for a
Spain-based company, although there are no such precedents.
Ferrovial's board said the proposed move was an
"expeditious" way to apply to list its shares in the U.S,
increasing liquidity and access to financing for the builder of
highways, airports and metro lines.
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that potential
access to U.S. government funding for energy transition and
other subsidies under the Biden administration's Inflation
Reduction Act (IRA) had influenced the decision, as European
companies are attracted by the financing.
The move must be approved by a majority of shareholders to
go ahead in a meeting that starts at midday (1000 GMT).
But the plan could be scuppered if holders of as little as a
combined 2.6% of the capital vote against as Ferrovial has said
it has only 500 million euros ($550 million) available to pay
out to shareholders who do not want to stay invested.
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