CriteriaCaixa acquires 5% of Agbar's owner

New step in CriteriaCaixa's investment strategy. The business holding of "La Caixa" Foundation has reached an agreement with the owner of Agbar, the French multinational Veolia Environment, to acquire 5% of its share capital. With the agreement, CriteriaCaixa will once again have a presence in Agbar, one of the entity's historical holdings.

The agreement also includes the presence of a CriteriaCaixa representative on the board of directors, which will be proposed at the next general shareholders' meeting. The operation is part of an agreement for stable participation in the shareholding and governing bodies of Veolia. With the agreement, CriteriaCaixa will not exceed 5.5% of Veolia's participation, and will remain in its capital for at least two years.

This acquisition of the 5% stake in Veolia will strengthen CriteriaCaixa's portfolio and diversification, and represents a significant milestone in the company's strategic plan for 2025-2030, which prioritizes its participation in companies in key areas such as banking, energy, and telecommunications.

The participation in Veolia "will strengthen the patrimonial structure of "La Caixa" Foundation, with the aim of generating the necessary financial resources to continue developing its social and philanthropic activity," defended its president, Isidro Fainé. In recent months, CriteriaCaixa has announced investments in companies such as ACS, Telefónica, and Colonial, through a strategy that has gained speed since the appointment a year ago of Ángel Simón as CEO of the entity, coming precisely from Agbar, where he was president for nearly 15 years.

For its part, Veolia is convinced that, through this investment, "shared opportunities will be created that will have a very positive impact on the group's development," according to Veolia's president, Antoine Frérot. The French multinational, with a presence on five continents and 215,000 employees, had a turnover of 44.7 billion euros in 2024.