This 2024, the La Caixa Foundation will have a budget of around 600 million euros to promote all kinds of social and cultural initiatives. We are talking about the second foundation in Europe and fifth in the world in terms of volume. This huge amount of money is possible thanks to the work of its business holding company Criteria Caixa, which is the owner of the largest portfolio of industrial investments in Spain, with a presence in CaixaBank, Telefónica, Naturgy, Cellnex and Bank East of Asia.
That is why any change in Criteria Caixa is not a trivial matter. And in the current context, with important shareholder changes in some of these companies – a Saudi fund in Telefónica or the growth of BlackRock in Naturgy – and the consolidation process of CaixaBank after the merger of La Caixa and Bankia, these are very complex times that require very special attention and care. The attempts by the Catalan independence parties to try to force the return of Catalan companies that left during the process, with special emphasis on the companies of the La Caixa group, do not help either.
This entire climate is what has led the board to bet on continuity and propose the renewal of Isidro Fainé as president for four more years and to reinforce itself, of course, with a person of its utmost trust such as Ángel Simón as the group's first executive. It is not a minor movement.
The Government of Pedro Sánchez, very attentive to the future of the holding company due to its key role in all these strategic companies, will have received the news with satisfaction, since it means consolidating the line imposed by Fainé in recent years. According to data for the first half of 2023, the gross value of the company's assets amounted to more than 26 billion euros.
In times of so much political and economic turbulence, the holding company's decision means setting a clear and decisive course that allows it to remain on the front line and obtain significant income to successfully maintain the fundamental work of the La Caixa Foundation.
