Indra acknowledges that studies a corporate operation with the Notary Defense Group. The Board of Directors has confirmed the news through a. After official ratifying the rumors that began last Thursday with the already closed markets, Indra’s action has ended with a decrease of 2.32%. If carried out, the operation would involve integrating its main shareholder into Indra, which has 14% of the capital, and would allow the first Spanish defense firm to grow in a context of rise in military spending.
The company that presides over Ángel Escribano (executive who owns, in turn, of 50% of the Mechanical notary itself) frames the possible transaction in “a continuous process of analysis of different opportunities with relevant actors of the defense sector, which give added value to the company”, within what places Escribano Mechanical & Engineering (EM & e). He clarifies, in any case, that he has not made any decision in this regard and that the analysis of the transaction is led by the CEO, José Vicente de los Mozos, “according to good corporate governance practices.”
The purchase of Escribano would allow Indra to increase their capacities in the area of defense, at a time when European countries are increasing their military plans in the face of Russian threat and the United States intention to cut their presence in Europe. Spain has approved this week an increase in defense expenditure up to 2% of GDP. The quoted company would have commissioned, according to The confidential y Expansionan analysis of the purchase to KPMG.
Amid this major militarist concern, Indra has already carried out draft movements, such as. According to published information, the Escribano assessment would be between 1,000 and 1,500 million euros. Currently, Indra has a market capitalization of 4,675 million euros.
Em & e Group is the second shareholder of Indra, with 14.3% of the capital, and has two seats in the Board of Directors: that of Angel Escribano and that of his brother Javier. The latter took over the presidency of the family business when the SEPI proposed to Ángel Escribano as Executive President of Indra, after the departure of Marc Murtra towards Telefónica. In turn, each of the two brothers has 50% of EM & e. Javier Escribano said Thursday in statements to the newspaper The newspaper that “the company is not for sale and of course is worth much more than 1,000 million.”
The potential fusion occurs after the failed attempt to buy from the American General Dynamics the Spanish Santa Barbara systems, although recently the American company has made an approach. Indra also, known as the workshop, to convert it and move on to manufacture military vehicles.
Although Indra is the largest Spanish defense company, its size is far from European leaders. Rheinmetall (Germany) capitalizes more than 60,000 million euros, Thales (France) is around 49,000 and Leonardo (Italy) is 25,000.
European rearme plans have given wings to the entire sector, and Indra is no exception. So far this year, and despite the fall of this Friday, 57.73% rises, after having presented a 21% rise in the Ebtida and 34% in the net benefit. The consensus of analysts advises to buy actions from Indra (10 recommendations on a total of 18), although the objective price is at 28.25 euros, less than 10% on the market value.
