¡Olé! Spain Investors Day goes global

Now in its tenth year, Spain Investors Day is the annual event that brings together the leading listed companies in Spain with the world’s top investors. Drawing on BNP Paribas Corporate and Institutional Banking’s substantial Spanish corporate footprint and Exane BNP Paribas’ international network of equity investors, it has become the market-leading equities forum in Spain.

Luis Sancho, Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking for BNP Paribas Spain, explains how the forum has become the pivotal decision-making forum for Spanish equity financing matters. “Spain Investors Day is now a key vehicle for conveying the equity funding challenges of Spanish companies,” he says. “The Spanish government’s frequent participation over the years underlines the event’s success as a leading economic forum and a meeting point for leading international investors and Spanish-listed companies across all sectors.”

Investors are especially drawn to the Spanish stock market’s high average yield per dividend at 4.5% annually , among the highest-ranked internationally, according to Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) in December 2019. This has ensured an extensive, diversified investor base: foreign investors hold 48% of the capital of all the listed companies, 14 points up on 12 years ago, according to BME data at the close of 2018.

Sancho attributes the interest of international investors in the Spanish stock market and Spain Investors Day to two main factors: “Spain is currently one of the fastest growing countries among the world’s major economies. It also has many multinationals that are leaders in their respective segments,” he explains.

One hundred and twenty institutional investors gather every year at Spain Investors Day, comprising 50% from the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, the US and others. More than 700 bilateral meetings are held with the senior management of the top 40 Spanish listed companies, of which 75% are listed on Ibex 35, the benchmark index of the Bolsa de Madrid, Spain’s largest stock exchange.

BNP Paribas in Spain BNP Paribas ranks No. 6 in Spain for corporate and institutional banking activities, according to Dealogic. Registering a 23% compound growth rate in revenues in the past two years, BNP Paribas is investing heavily in Spain, where it aims to maintain its rapid growth in 2020 and beyond. To achieve these objectives, BNP Paribas is working closely with large corporates in their international growth plans – especially in the United States and Latin America. Luis Sancho, Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking for BNP Paribas Spain, believes the bank has the edge in areas such as renewable energy and the health sector, where it can play a decisive role in transformative financing activities across mergers and acquisitions, and equity capital markets, in addition to regular financing deals. “It will require a bank with the capacity to provide diverse financing and equity solutions, alongside deep industrial knowledge, global reach and a wide range of products, underpinned by access to an unparalleled breadth and depth of debt and equity investors,” he explains.