The Government, through the State Society of Industrial Participations (Sepi), is preparing the assault on the presidency of Telefónica with the aim of accelerating the replacement of José María Álvarez-Pallete, the group’s first executive for almost nine years. For now, the telecommunications company plans to convene an extraordinary council in the next few hours with the aim of proposing Marc Murtra, current president of Indra.
As this newspaper has learned from sources familiar with the situation, the business arm of Telefónica plans to take executive command of the multinational, with a proposal for president who will enjoy the support of a large part of the company’s board. As reported by elConfidencial early this Saturday, the new shareholders of Telefónica propose the replacement, in information in which Murtra is emerging as the main candidate.
Both Sepi and Criteria Caixa, both with the 10% of the group’s capital of telecommunications, would endorse Murtra’s candidacy in taking over the presidency of Telefónica. In fact, the current president of Indra is part of the board of trustees of the La Caixa Banking Foundation, chaired by Isidro Fainé, vice president of the Telefónica board.
Also Saudi Telecom (STC), currently with the 4.9% of Telefónica’s shareholding and waiting to soon reach the 10% sought for more than a year, it would be aligned with the Government. The chief executive of the Saudi group, Olayan Alwetaid, met last September with Carlos Body, Minister of Economy, to establish a series of agreements of interest to both parties with the aim of unblocking the conversion of derivatives into full shares, without that this represents a threat to the country’s strategic interests.
Other market sources have told this newspaper that the earthquake at the Telefónica dome could occur in the next few hours. Specifically, this day is presumed decisive in elucidating the evolution of a movement that would mark the beginning of a new stage in one of the largest European telecommunications groups and Latin American.
Since the end of April 2024, Murtra has executive functions at Indra, a company destined to become the Spanish defense champion, with the reinforced functions of a profile close to the socialist orbit. In this way, since last spring, Murtra has strengthened dialogue with Public Administrations, Governments and international organizations, for a strategic positioning of Indra in the current geopolitical context.
Murtra is an industrial engineer, specialty Machine Mechanics, from the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineers of Barcelona (ETSEIB), of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. He also has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a major in Finance from the Leonard School of Business at New York University.
Apart from Indra, Murtra is independent director at Ebro Foods, member of its Executive Committee and president of the Audit and Control Committee, a body that is entrusted, among other functions, with the supervision of the ESG area. He is also an associate professor of Financial Management, Financial Economics and of the Master of Science in Finance and Banking at the Pompeu Fabra University. He is an advisor in the Turbo Propeller Industry and in Tess Defence, as well as a trustee of the “la Caixa” Foundation.
The harmony between the Government and Murtra is direct. Among other details, because the appointment of the 53-year-old engineer born in Blackburn (England) as head of Indra was marked by the interest of Sepi, a group that holds 28% of the company specialized in defense and security technology. Given the Government’s presumably imminent assault on the telecom leadership, Murtra’s leadership at Telefónica would reinforce Pedro Sánchez’s executive in its intention not to expand Sepi’s representation on the Telefónica board, already with the presence of Carlos Ocaña.
On the other hand, STC does not have representation on the Telefónica board, but everything indicates that the Saudi group will soon have a place on the teleco’s governing body, once the death of Javier Echenique left that orphaned seat last December. On November 28, the Government approved the conversion of STC derivatives in Telefónica into full shares, but so far there has been no development in that direction. This movement appears to coincide with the profound restructuring of the Telefónica board promoted by the Government through its business arm, Sepi.
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