The appointment of Rodrigo Buenaventura as the new secretary general of losco (the world organization of national securities markets commissions) It definitively opens the replacement process at the top of the Cnmv, since until now there was the possibility that the Government could extend the current mandate for two years in accordance with the provisions of the Securities Market Law.
Precisely the reform of this law, through which it was decided, among other issues, to extend the mandates of the top officials of the Cnmv from four years, renewable, to one of six non-renewable, It has been one of the issues that have been developed during Buenaventura’s mandate that ends on December 16.
On an exceptional basis, and only for this occasion, The new law established that the Government could decide to extend the mandate of the president and the vice president, Montserrat Martínez Parera, for two additional years to the four for which they were appointed.
Once the possibility of this alternative has been eliminated, the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, who has been informed of the possibility of Buenaventura’s appointment in Iosco from the first moment and who has actively supported him, has until December 16 to decide who will replace Buenaventura and, eventually, Martínez Parera.
The possibility of the latter being chosen for the presidency is on the table and this would mean maintaining what happened on the last two occasions where a person linked to it and with sufficiently proven experience has been placed at the head of the institution. Sebastian Albella, who chaired the CNMV before Buenaventura, was the first secretary of the commission’s council, as well as drafter of the law creating it. Buenaventura has developed most of his professional career at the Cnmv, holding different positions until being named president four years ago.
Martínez Parera was chief of staff of Julio Segura and Fernando Restoy, while these were the top officials of the commission. He accompanied Restoy when he was appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Spain and returned to the CNMV four years ago.
During this period of time, the Cnmv has had to face different events such as the return of the State to Indra’s shareholding; the decision to dismiss its then president, Fernando Abril-Martorell (who had been appointed by the PP Government of Mariano Rajoy), and the rebellion of the independent directors, which caused an institutional crisis that, over time, the company has overcome under the presidency of Marc Murtra.
Ferrovial’s decision to start trading in Amsterdam as a preliminary step to doing so on the New York Stock Exchange, arguing that it was easier to do it from that Stock Exchange than from the Spanish Stock Exchange, was another of the events that have taken place in recent years.
The Grifols crisis, derived from the unfavorable report carried out by Gotham in which the Spanish company was accused of having altered its accounts, has ended with the opening of files both against the Spanish firm for defects in financial information and management reports and against the North American firm for market manipulation.
The Unicaja crisis, derived from the struggle for power unleashed after the merger of this entity with Liberbank, although it was piloted by both the Ministry of Economy, having the supervision of the Unicaja Foundation, the bank’s main shareholder, and by the Bank of Spain and the European Central Bank, It also had an impact on the work of the Cnmv as it was a listed entity.
The emergence of cryptocurrencies and their rapid commercial development by unregulated companies forced the CNMV to draft a guide to control the advertising of its marketing.
The Cnmv authorized the partial purchase offer of shares of the Australian fund IFM on Naturgy, which began a long process that has not yet been concluded to clarify the ownership of the energy company and which also caused that the Government established tough conditions for the new minority shareholder (maintaining the headquarters in Spain, defending the dividend policy and not favoring the sale of certain assets…). These conditions have also been transferred to BlackRock, which has become a relevant shareholder of the company by having acquired the GIP fund, which has just over 20% of the capital and to which we must add the shares that BlackRock already had (2%). The share concentration in Naturgy is so high (four shareholders have close to 90% of the capital) which means that liquidity on the stock market is reduced. BlackRock and CVC (which also has 20%) would like to leave the partnership, but no buyer has been found for those packages.
The return of the State to Telefónica through Sepi, together with the increase in Criteria’s participation in the company, to face the decision of the Saudi fund STC to take over 10% of the capital of the Spanish telecommunications operator, has been another of the issues that the Cvmv has faced in recent months. The State has returned to the company’s board.
Buenaventura will remain as president of the CNMV until December 16, when his mandate expires and it is possible that before that date the commission will register the brochure of the takeover bid that BBVA wants to launch on the capital of Sabadell, which has the opposition. of the board of the bank of Catalan origin. Next week the Cnmc must decide whether to approve the operation in what is called phase one and then the Cnmv could register the prospectus before mid-December if it is finalized. If the Cnmv decided to move to phase two, the deadline for authorizing the operation would be extended several more months and then the Cnmv must decide whether to wait until that moment or whether to approve the prospectus without knowing the conditions that the Cnmv could end up placing on the operation. Something unusual, but possible. If he decided to wait, it would be something that the CNMV council would have to adopt under the new presidency.
