Indra will appoint six independent directors to close the crisis

With the appointment of six independent directors, the technology company Indra intends to end the corporate governance crisis that broke out at the meeting on June 23, after the block dismissal of most of the independent directors.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
19 September 2022 Monday 10:02
11 Reads
Indra will appoint six independent directors to close the crisis

With the appointment of six independent directors, the technology company Indra intends to end the corporate governance crisis that broke out at the meeting on June 23, after the block dismissal of most of the independent directors. The multinational, chaired by Marc Murtra, yesterday communicated to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) the names of the six proposed members who will be ratified at the board of directors to be held this Monday.

These are very technological profiles and mostly women to comply with the parity standards required by the stock market regulator. Among them are Virginia Arce Virginia Arce (PwC), Olga San Jacinto (Nazca Capital), Felipe Fernández (former president of Deutsche Telekom Ibérica), Coloma Armero (Uría Menéndez), Axel Arendt (Rolls Royce) and Belén Amatriain (former CEO of Telefonica Spain).

Once the council gives the green light to the appointments, Indra will have to call an extraordinary meeting for their ratification. It is expected to be held before October 30. In that same meeting, it is expected that the appointment of Juan Moscoso, representing the main shareholder, Sepi, which controls 25.2% directly, will be included in the agenda. In this way, the highest control body of the technology group would be made up of 14 members, one more than before the crisis. Indra has relied on the specialized firm Korn Ferry to recruit these independent directors. And after the election, the approval of the appointment commission of the council itself was received.

At the same time, the company notified the CNMV yesterday that this week's Council of Ministers approved the Amber Capital fund, owned by Joseph Oughourlian, who also chairs Prisa, the possibility of raising its stake to 9.9%, from its current 4.2%. In this way, the fund would become the second shareholder, with the same percentage that Fidelity currently holds.

Behind this corporate governance crisis in Indra hovers the idea that the Government, through SEPI, intends to strengthen the group's defense area, while segregating the technology division under the subsidiary Minsait.

At the same time, well-informed sources point out that the will of the Pedro Sánchez Executive would be to enter the capital of the Basque company ITP Aero in the medium term. This manufacturer of aircraft engines participates together with Indra in the creation of the new combat aircraft that will replace the Eurofighters. The Spanish Executive has tried that assault a couple of times, but failed. Official Indra sources assure that "at the moment this operation is not on the table"; but it is not ruled out that with the landing of the new board of directors it could be raised again.

Rolls-Royce, which was the owner of ITP Aero, has closed this week its sale to the American fund Bain Capital for 1,625 million. And he intends to cede 30% of the capital to a Spanish industrial consortium. That is where Indra could play a leading role in said consortium.

With this operation, the PNV, which seeks at all costs to avoid cuts and relocations in the Basque firm with the new owners, would come into play collaterally. Yesterday, Indra's shares led the gains on the Ibex, rising 2.32%, because the market understood that the institutional crisis in technology was being closed.