Yolanda Díaz met with Rafael del Pino in the midst of a storm due to the transfer of the Ferrovial headquarters to the Netherlands. The appointment was held last Wednesday at the headquarters of the Second Vice Presidency at the request of the businessman himself. It was, say sources familiar with the meeting, an "intense" exchange in which Del Pino detailed the motivations for her decision and Díaz asked for explanations and demanded guarantees with employment in Spain.
The face-to-face between Díaz and Del Pino occurred after the call that the first vice president, Nadia Calviño, made to the businessman on Wednesday to make the transfer ugly and address "the possible implications of this erroneous decision." Díaz maintained a critical tone during the conversation and conveyed his concern about the tax and, especially, labor consequences of the decision.
Sources from the Second Vice Presidency acknowledge contacts with Ferrovial and assure that Yolanda Díaz's interest is to maintain Ferrovial's investments and jobs in Spain, despite the transfer of its headquarters. There are more than 5,000 jobs that are a priority for the Ministry of Labor.
Del Pino, according to the sources consulted, promised to maintain Ferrovial's investment in Spain and to preserve the multinational's jobs in the country, which number more than 5,000. The businessman also explained to Díaz, always according to these sources, that the main reason for the transfer is the connection between the Amsterdam and United States stock markets and the greater financing capacity of Ferrovial in the Netherlands.
The second vice president stated in public that Ferrovial's decision seems "disastrous" and recalled that the company took advantage of the ERTE during the worst of the pandemic. “I would ask that board of directors out of attachment to their country to reconsider this,” she said. And she urged the government to “act”. “There are many measures”, but “they are not up to me”, she concluded.
Ferrovial sources explain that Del Pino has also met with the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, who is the one with powers over the Development portfolio. There has been a telephone conversation with the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, and with the CNMV, as well as with Moncloa.
From Ferrovial they insist that Del Pino called the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and that, when he was unable to speak with him, he left a message with his secretary. "There has been no response to the call," they say.
In these three days between Ferrovial's announcement to remove its headquarters from Spain, the Ministry of Finance has also made a move with the company. Specifically, the central delegation of large taxpayers of the Tax Agency held a meeting with representatives of the multinational to address the tax implications of the decision.
According to sources familiar with the "technical" meeting, Ferrovial is interested in the transfer being carried out in accordance with the regulations, hence the meeting with an inspection area that has a permanent focus on large multinationals. Ferrovial is one of them, with a team of Treasury inspectors and technicians practically "embedded" in the day-to-day running of the company.
The Treasury, for its part, seeks to ensure that the transfer of Ferrovial's registered office to the Netherlands is carried out in strict compliance with the company's tax obligations. The company itself has informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) that it will create a branch in Spain of its parent Fise once the transfer is complete.
Ferrovial explains that it has registered provisions of a tax nature for an amount of 200 million euros that "correspond, fundamentally, to ongoing litigation in relation to tax inspections in Spain whose litigious amount amounts to 332.4 million euros, the most significant being those relating to Corporate Tax and VAT for the years 2002 to 2017”.
Among the open lawsuits, first of all, the procedures related to the amortization for tax purposes of the financial goodwill derived from the acquisitions of Amey and Swissport. In this regard, Ferrovial has filed an appeal against the 2014 European Commission Decision ("Third Decision") in which it is declared that this tax measure is State aid. "Although we consider that there are well-founded reasons that support the group's procedural position, if there is no favorable court ruling, there would be a negative impact of 84.9 million euros on Ferrovial's income statement, corresponding to corporate tax on the financial years 2002-2021”, explains the company chaired by Rafael del Pino. The maximum amount to be paid would be 44.3 million euros, since the rest has already been settled.
Secondly, Ferrovial has an appeal filed before the Supreme Court against the liquidation agreement derived from the act filed against Ferrovial S.A. for the corporation tax corresponding to the financial year of 2006. The main concept debated is the application of the deduction for export activities in relation to the investment made that year for the acquisition of the participation in the old BAA (Heathrow airport). The amount derived from this contingency amounts to 119.2 million euros, which are already provisioned.
