CriteriaCaixa is reorganizing its structure after the sudden replacement of Ángel Simón as CEO of the La Caixa Foundation's investment holding company, and it is doing so by looking inward. The executive committee of the entity's board of directors has appointed José María Méndez, who was previously deputy CEO, as general director. In turn, the deputy general director will be Adolfo Feijóo, director of legal counsel and vice-secretary of the board of trustees of the La Caixa Foundation and of the board of directors of CriteriaCaixa.
The domino effect originates from Simón's replacement at the helm of CriteriaCaixa last week, little more than a year after he took office. Appointed when he held the presidency of Agbar and the vice-presidency of Veolia, Simón replaced Marcelino Armenter, and promoted intense investment activity by the holding company.
Now, Méndez will be in charge of the operational management of the holding company and will report to its executive committee, composed of the chairman of the board, Isidro Fainé, along with Francisco Reynés, José Antonio Asiáin, and Marcos Contreras. Reynés, chairman of Naturgy, was appointed a member of the board and executive vice-chairman of CriteriaCaixa in parallel with Simón's departure.
Born in Lugo in 1966, Méndez holds degrees in Law and Political Science and Administration, and is a civil servant on leave from the Senior Corps of State Civil Administrators. He was recently appointed proprietary director of CaixaBank representing the foundation. Méndez, who was part of the General Directorate of the Treasury and Financial Policy of the Ministry of Economy between 1993 and 2003, was the CEO of CecaBank until last April.
For his part, Feijóo holds degrees in Economic and Business Sciences and Law from the UAB. Born in Barcelona in 1971 and with a master's degree from Boston University School of Law, PIL from Harvard, and PDG from IESE, before joining the foundation he developed his professional career at Uría Menéndez and Cuatrecasas Legal.
More than 1,780 million in investments in 2024
During 2024, Criteria made net investments worth 1,780 million euros, with the aim of generating growth and diversifying portfolios. The holding company's strategic portfolio represents 72% of the gross value of assets and is mainly composed of CaixaBank (31.22%), Naturgy (26.71%), and Telefónica (9.99%), reaching more than 21,800 million euros.
On the other hand, it also has stakes in ACS (9.36%, with an investment of 936 million) and Puig (3.05%, with an investment of 425 million). In contrast, it divested from Cellnex (911 million). The latest announcement was the acquisition of 20% of the Catalan multinational Celsa; however, days later, CriteriaCaixa cooled this possibility and explained that the operation was still under analysis.