The Diplomat
The U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Julissa Reynoso, said yesterday, regarding Ferrovial’s decision to move to the Netherlands to enter the U.S. market, that it is not necessary to “move” from Spain to be listed on the Wall Street Stock Exchange in New York. He also expressed his “hope” that both the King and Queen of Spain and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will soon travel to Washington and assured that his government is “very open” to dialogue with Spain on the transfer of the contaminated land in Palomares.
“Private companies have to decide where best to trade,” said the ambassador during her speech at the America Forum, organized in Madrid by Europa Press and Estudio de Comunicación. “As a good New Yorker, I must say that we have the best listing place in the world, and it is the elite place of most important companies globally to list, but there are many Spanish companies that are in Spain and that are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and did not have to move to do so. One thing has nothing to do with the other,” she warned.
Ferrovial’s Board of Directors last week proposed a merger between the parent company and Ferrovial International, a Dutch European limited company that already owns 86% of the company’s assets, which will involve the transfer of the registered office from Spain to the Netherlands. It also informed the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) that it will apply for dual listing in the Netherlands in order to continue trading in Spain before making the leap to the United States. “We want to be listed in the United States and, in order to compete successfully in international markets, we need to have a dual listing between Madrid and the Amsterdam Stock Exchange,” said Francisco Polo, the company’s communications director.
On the other hand, Julissa Reynoso stated during the same meeting that she is confident that both the King and Queen of Spain and Pedro Sánchez will soon be able to travel to Washington, although she specified that, for the time being, there are no dates foreseen.
Regarding the possible visit of the King and Queen -who were forced to cancel a state visit in April 2020 because of the pandemic-, Reynoso expressed her “hope” that there could be “something more official in Washington” and recalled that the President, Joe Biden, had the opportunity to speak with Felipe VI during his visit to Madrid for the NATO Summit in June 2022 and that the First Lady, Jill Biden, has “a very fluid relationship” with Queen Letizia.
As for Pedro Sánchez, the ambassador assured that she hopes with “all faith” that there will be an upcoming meeting with Biden and recalled that the two met during the NATO Summit and coincided in several international forums. “My hope is that we can have something, but I have no date,” but “there are “many contacts at the highest level between ministers and the White House.”
During the meeting between Sánchez and Biden in Madrid, both agreed on the arrival of two new U.S. destroyers at the Rota base (Cadiz), an issue on which there is “an active process of dialogue” between both parties but whose implementation, the ambassador recalled, will force to modify the Defense Cooperation Agreement between Spain and the United States.
On the other hand, Reynoso assured that Washington is “very open” to dialogue on the official request recently presented by the Spanish government for the United States to proceed with the removal of the lands that were contaminated as a result of the accident suffered in 1966 by two U.S. planes in Palomares (Almeria). According to the newspaper El País, the Government has decided to recover the unwritten agreement reached in 2015 with the Administration of Barack Obama for the United States to take back to its territory the lands that were contaminated as a result of the accident.
