Indra accepts Amber's entry into the council and incorporates two more independent members

The pieces are fitting in Indra.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
26 May 2023 Friday 04:26
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Indra accepts Amber's entry into the council and incorporates two more independent members

The pieces are fitting in Indra. The board of directors, meeting this Thursday, accepted the entry of Amber Capital, the fund chaired by Joseph Oughourlian, in the company's corporate governance body. The investor had taken advantage of the resignation of Alex Arendt as an independent director to buy, last Tuesday, up to 7.239% of the company called to lead the industrial transformation of the Defense sector in Spain.

Indra's shareholders' meeting will thus discuss the incorporation of the director of Amber Capital. It will be held on June 30. The fund proposed Pablo Jiménez de Parga as a proprietary member, the company itself informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) last night. Jiménez de Parga, a lawyer with extensive experience, is a person close to Oughourlian and is the secretary of the board of directors of the Prisa group, of which Amber is the largest shareholder.

The council meeting yesterday also decided to bring to the shareholders' meeting the expansion to sixteen (now the limit is fifteen) in the number of members, a procedure that does have to have the approval of the company's owners. Specifically, Indra will propose incorporating María Ángeles Santamaría Martín, an industrial engineer and specialist in renewable energies, and Elena García Armada, an industrial engineer and president of the biotechnology company Marsi Bionics, as independent directors.

The appointment proposal, explained Indra, "will make it possible to comply with recommendation 17 of the code of good governance, with at least half of the independent directors out of a total of sixteen directors." Indeed, the slamming of the door that Arendt gave as an independent director left these figures in a minority in the governing body. As of June 30, the board is expected to be made up of eight members not attached to the company, five proprietary (at the proposal of the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales, the main shareholder, Amber and SAPA) and three executives, who are the president, Marc Murtra, the CEO, José Vicente de los Mozos, and Luis Abril, general director of the technology area.

In addition, with the arrival of two women as new members, Indra will get closer to the new parity law that the Council of Ministers approved this week and that contemplates a minimum female quota of 40% on the boards of directors. After the meeting, Indrá will have a 37.5% female presence.

“If the shareholders give us their support, we will have a broader, more solid and diverse board to face the exciting challenges and opportunities that Indra faces and respond to the demands of our interest groups. We are building a more consistent business project, and we have specific reasons to be optimistic”, stated Marc Murtra, president of Indra.

Indra is undergoing a true internal restructuring so that the company sets the course towards a new stage characterized by an increase in military spending. The recent appointment of José Vicente de los Mozos, formerly of Renault, as CEO has this objective.

Amber's movement in Indra coincides in time with that of Escribano, who announced a few days ago the purchase of up to 5% of the company, an operation valued at 65 million.