FCC claims financial stability
01 May 2015
The process of returning Spanish-based construction and infrastructure group FCC to financial stability is said to have been completed with the securing of the long-term refinancing of the personal debt of shareholder Esther Koplowitz.
This move and the acquisition of a 25.6% stake in FCC Group by Carlos Slim at the end of 2014 mark the culmination of this process.
The long-term refinancing of the debt from the company Dominum Dirección y Gestión SA (DDG), a company fully owned by Koplowitz, is taking effect immediately. She maintains a significant shareholding in FCC through this company and FCC said this fulfilled all of the conditions required for this refinancing to be fully effective, after DDG acquired the companies B1998 SA and Azate SA.
FCC said that through this, an agreement reached with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya SA and Bankia SA in November 2014 was fulfilled, granting Koplowitz a five-year term to take care of her financing.
DDG is consolidating its financial stability, exclusively focusing its efforts on managing its shareholding in FCC.
The refinancing of DDG’s debt is the final act of a process which began in September 2013, which FCC said had the sole aim of improving and guaranteeing the group’s viability. It said that through this process, Koplowitz facilitated the entry of new relevant shareholders into the FCC capital structure, significantly strengthening the Citizen Services Group.
Since the launching of a strategic plan in 2013, FCC Group has refinanced €4,512 billion of debt, divested non-core assets to a value of over €1.5 billion, and attracted international investment from funds associated with Bill Gates (October 2013) and George Soros (January 2014).
Koplowitz is first vice chairman of FCC, while her daughter, Esther Alcocer Koplowitz, is chairman.
