The president of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), Rodrigo Buenaventura, has assured this Wednesday in Parliament that he keeps the Government and its allies in Indra under surveillance in case it should force the State to launch a Public Offer of Acquisition of shares (OPA) for covert takeover for dismissing independents.

In an appearance at his own request before the Economic Affairs Commission of the Congress of Deputies, Buenaventura, has gone further than in his statement last December when he provisionally filed the scandal over the alliance formed by the State Society of Industrial Participations (Sepi), the Basque group Sapa, and the Amber fund directed by the president of the Prisa group, Joseph Oughourlian.

The official told the deputies that "the three shareholders (AMBER, SAPA and SEPI) cooperated and coordinated in the days and hours prior to the meeting to propose and vote in favor of the dismissals, with the active participation of the Chairman of Indra". I mean. that the arm of the Government secretly plotted with its allies for days the cessation of the independent directors of Indra with the current president of the company, Marc Murtra, in the plot.

This "coordination" is not, however, "a concertation" that forces the Sepi to launch a takeover bid, according to Buenaventura. Why? He has given, among other arguments, that he does not see since that assault a change in the strategic direction of the company nor has it served for Murtra to obtain the executive powers denied to him by the expelled independents.

However, he has described the government's action as "just the opposite of what would be desirable", because "we must protect and protect those in the Council who look after the interests of minorities".

What he has warned is that his December decision not to force the launch of a takeover bid is still open, despite having filed it three months ago "Does that mean that the conclusion reached in December 2022, whatever happens in the future, is immovable? Nope. In the absence of evidence or sufficient indications of concert, the future actions of the shareholders about whom the concert was suspected may yield new keys, new indications or new evidence that force to revisit the matter in the light of these new facts. " He mentioned the recent case of the departure of the CEO of Indra, Ignacio Mataix, who is the last senior executive who did not control the Government, but has not given details of whether that seems to him a new worrying sign.

Therefore, he said the CNMV continues to "monitor" the situation and "decision-making in the company". He also monitors the new board of directors, although he does not see the new independents so far dominated by the government. "Although the outgoing directors (dismissed) expressed in the meeting itself and in their resignation letters their suspicion that more docile replacements would be sought,more akin to the significant shareholders or the president or less independent, none of this has been evident until today, once the new board has been analyzed, "said the president of the body.

Buenaventura has admitted that one of the factors for not punishing the agreement is that Indra appointed new independent directors months later, but has denied that the CNMV has been slow giving the Government time to repair part of the damage. It took six months and, according to Buenaventura, "it took as little as possible, no more, no less."

He has also insisted that the Government must modify the Capital Companies Law to avoid new expulsions such as those of Indra and better protect independent directors.

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