The metamorphoses of the Ibex-35

BarcelonaThe Ibex-35 happens to be the Holy of Holies of the Spanish company and is where the flower and cream of the big corporations of the State is and through which over the years a total of 99 companies have passed. But last week marked 30 years of history and a review of the pioneering companies of this selective shows that membership in the Ibex-35 does not shield – not even the largest – against the usual events for the rest of the business community: mergers, acquisitions, deep crises and disappearances have marked a selective that has celebrated three decades at a time little shone by the impact of covid. This is a review of the pioneers of this index.

The aristocracy

Untouchable giants of the first hour

Of the 35 companies that make up the Ibex today, nine are already there on January 14, 1992. They are Telefónica, Repsol, Iberdrola, Banco Santander, Bankinter, Mapfre, Acerinox, Viscofan and Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (formerly denomination of Endesa). There are two companies that saw their name change as a result of mergers and the passage of time: Catalana de Gas (seed of Natural Gas, which has become Naturgy) and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (which would eventually win the A d ‘Argentaria).

But if we have to choose the great aristocracy of the Ibex-35, it should be noted that on the day of its birth Telefónica was the company with the most weight in the selective, with BBV, Iberdrola and Santander among the top seven stocks. All four are still among the top ten on the Ibex-35, with Iberdrola second, Santander third, BBVA fourth and Telefónica (ninth). The first company to be valued today, Inditex, did not make its debut in the Spanish national team until 2001.

The Catalans

A figure that remains at maximums

The historical deficit of large Catalan companies is not reflected in the comparison between the first Ibex-35 and the current one. In 1992 there were Catalana de Gas, Fuerzas Eléctricas de Cataluña (Fecsa, which would eventually be acquired by Endesa), Aguas de Barcelona, ​​Asland (which would be bought by Lafarge), Autopistas Concesionaria Española (Acesa, seeds of Abertis) and Uralita (former name of Coemac). To these six we can add two special cases: Fomento de Obras y Construcciones (only two months later it merged with Construcciones y Contratas, which gave way to FCC, a company that, despite having its headquarters in Catalonia, retained the operating headquarters and the main shareholders in Madrid) and Cubiertas y MZOV, which despite being acquired by Grupo Entrecanales in the late 80’s maintained its operational headquarters in Catalonia years before being absorbed into the Acciona conglomerate. Therefore, in January 1992, there were eight Catalan companies in the selection.

Today, CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell, Grifols, Naturgy, Almirall, Fluidra, Colonial and Cellnex are in the selection. In fact, it had been eight years since there were eight Catalan companies on the Ibex. Despite this, with a much more globalized economy, the geographical affiliation of companies is more liquid, a phenomenon to which is added the withdrawal of the headquarters of Catalonia from half of these companies in response to 1 October. In all cases, however, it can be said that they maintain important operations in Catalonia.

The falls

Big fish that do not shy away from being eaten

Reviewing the top 35 members of the index, there are no cases of business disappearances due to bankruptcy. This shows that in business matters having a certain amount of help in dealing with lean cows. However, business mergers – a concept that masks pure and simple absorption – have been commonplace on the Ibex-35 and are the most common route for the disappearance of brands and companies.

Of the 35 pioneers of the selective, 18, more than 50%, have ceased to exist after being bought by other larger fish with whom they shared parquet. This is the case (see graph) of the Banco Central Hispano, the Popular, the Spanish de Crédito or the Banco Exterior de España. There has also been a lot of concentration in the energy sector (Unión Fenosa, Sevillana de Electricidad and Fecsa). Dragados y Construcciones, Vallehermoso, Cubiertas y MZOV and Agroman were absorbed into the world of construction and real estate.

Foreign giants have also bought Ibex-35 companies. Tabacalera joined the French Selta to become Altadis, later acquired by Imperial Tobacco. Asland cement plant went to the French Lafarge. Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico passed into the hands of the Portuguese EDP. The road to losing the brand and leaving the Ibex-35 has also historically been made via absorption into the hands of companies that are no longer selective: this happened to Fomento de Obras y Construcciones and also to Portland. Valderrivas (both purchased by the FCC); Sarrió was bought by Torraspapel, and Huarte was dissolved in the OHL conglomerate.

A special case is that of the Catalan Uralita, of the Catalan Roviralta family. The crisis of this material due to the health problems that have resulted from it has made it a regular in the trials and hit the company hard, still operating under the name Coemac.

A discreet evolution

An index to light years of the grains

Companies go public to get resources that will drive their growth, and investors buy shares to earn dividends or later sell them at a higher price. But the historical evolution of the Ibex-35 is discreet in these 30 years. Its initial 2,693 points were 8,748 points this Friday, after a couple of weak years marked by the pandemic. Thus, it has multiplied by 3.2 in these 30 years of life. The figure is very low compared to major international indices: in the same period of time the US Dow Jones has multiplied by 10.6; the German DAX 30 has multiplied in recent years by 9.6, and the French CAC 40 has increased its value 3.8 times. The Ibex has been clearly more bullish than the Japanese Nikkei, which has only grown 1.2 times since 1992.