Madrid: Esther Koplowitz could be close to signing a deal with Veolia, according to the newspaper Expansion. According to this source, some financial investors, (Ibersuizas, a UK and a French group) could be close to buying Veolia’s stake in FCC. This piece of news has come out some days before the FCCs AGM (June 23). Speculation about future developments on this unclear shareholder situation and the potential to reach a solution before the AGM, favour this kind of unconfirmed press releases, according to Deutsche Bank analysts.
Esther Koplowitz is probably trying to replace Veolia with financial investors that would allow her to maintain full control of the company. Following the experience of Veolia with Esther Koplowitz, with significant disputes between the two parties as regards the strategy that FCC should follow, it is not easy to understand why financial investors could be interested in replacing Veolia. Moreover, the price of FCC shares is not significantly undervalued to allow financial investors buy the stock on this ground only. In addition, we should not forget that Acciona, with a 14% stake of FCC, has not yet to have its last word.