The main Catalan employers’ association, Foment del Treball, has dropped a bomb today by ensuring that in the coming months “more important companies” will return to Catalonia, following in the footsteps of Banco Sabadell, which announced the transfer yesterday. The news was given by … president of that organization, Josep Sánchez Libre, in a meeting with journalists this morning.
He has refused to give the names of those companies that will return, insisting only that they are “important.” “At Foment del Treball we continue to work with great prudence, secrecy and silence,” said Sánchez Llibre, to pave the way for returns that, according to him, predict that Catalonia will regain leadership of the Spanish economy throughout 2025.
As already mentioned, yesterday Banco Sabadell announced that it will return to its headquarters in Barcelona after seven years of self-imposed exile in Alicante. The news was a surprise, or not so much, because with the arrival of a socialist to the presidency of the Generalitat the scenario seems more favorable for the return of those companies that, in the middle of the ‘procés’, in 2017, abandoned that autonomous community.
Sabadell’s was the first return of a major company, just as in 2017 it was the first from the Ibex to pack its bags. It was a dramatic exit and a hard blow for the independentists. There were falls on the stock market, flight of clients and legal instability. As ABC explained yesterday, in the first months after 1-O more than 32.5 billion euros in deposits left Catalonia. This start of 2025 the scenario is very different, politically and economically.
“It is good news for Catalonia and the Catalan economy,” said Sánchez Llibre this morning, before adding that, precisely, the return of large companies was the second major objective – after the defense of businessmen – that his organization for the period 2024-2025. “Maximum congratulations to all the directors of Banco de Sabadell who this afternoon will propose their return to the Board of Directors,” concluded the president of Foment. Catalan businessmen are happy, and we must not forget that the return of Sabadell puts the cherry on top of some returns that have already taken place throughout 2024.
The most famous – with permission from Sabadell – was that of Cementos Molins last December, for being the first listed company to do so. Before this, some others had already returned, such as Laboratorios Ordesa or Aguas de Barcelona and Red Points. The return of La Caixa is pending, something that, as ABC explained this morning, is not yet in its plans. It remains to be seen if the first Catalan bank is on the list that Sánchez Llibre does not want to give.
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