New acquisition announcement from Criteria Caixa. A few days after becoming the largest shareholder of Colonial and doubling its stake in Telefónica, the holding company that manages the business assets of Fundación La Caixa has acquired a 9.4% stake in ACS. It did so for an amount of 983 million euros, in an operation through which it will become the second largest shareholder of the construction company founded by Florentino Pérez, which holds a stake above 14%.
The holding company, chaired by Isidro Fainé and with Ángel Simón as CEO, will propose appointing Fainé as proprietary director of the company of the also president of Real Madrid. The acquisition is part of Criteria Caixa's investment policy, which has led it to articulate a portfolio with shareholdings in sectors such as banking, energy, and telecommunications.
Following this investment strategy, the holding company has maintained a dynamic pace of operations in recent weeks and months, with operations such as the increase in its stake in Telefónica from 5% to 10%, as well as the entry into the capital of companies such as Colonial, with 17% and as the primary investor, and Puig, with a 3.05% acquired with the IPO of the Catalan perfumery and fashion group.
The entry into ACS contributes to strengthening the asset structure of Fundación La Caixa, with the aim of generating the economic resources required to carry out its social action, supporting entities and promoting projects such as the immunology center it is building in front of CosmoCaixa, with the forecast that it will open in 2025 after an investment of 100 million.
This entry into ACS occurs in a context where the company invoiced 35.7 billion euros in 2023. With 135,000 employees worldwide, the group closed the last fiscal year with a project portfolio amounting to 73.5 billion, in diverse areas such as infrastructure, with companies like Abertis; services, with Clece, and especially construction and engineering, with companies like Dragados.
Criteria Caixa's investment is also motivated by the focus ACS has placed in recent years on growing sectors of interest to the holding company, such as technology, digitalization, energy transition, and sustainable mobility. In addition, ACS's shareholder remuneration policy fits with Criteria Caixa's strategy. With a stable and growing dividend, it aligns with the holding company's commitment to seek investment options that maximize dividend yield with a long-term approach.