As regards Gas Natural’s takeover bid of Endesa, Manuel Pizarro, President of Endesa, was the first to think of it, transforming a market operation into a dark political plot by Catalan nationalists. Now things have changed. E.On wants to buy Endesa and out comes Gas Natural (which rightly took Pizarro’s words as partisan) to defend its “Spanishness” as opposed to E.On, which is German. Please!   

 

But this isn’t all. When it comes to dogmatic, short term thinking our government beats them all. In this vein, it said: “some group have turned to Germany without considering the consequences for Spain and only looking out for shareholders’ interests.” Who is Spain? You? Me? The Tajo River? The Pyrenees?

 

A country’s geographic accidents do not make a company. Things are no longer like in the Keynesian-protectionist Jurassic period, when a country could identify itself with a company, like GM and the US. Today, we live in a much more dynamic and globalized economy. An economy where companies have to change quickly to adapt to client and shareholder needs, even while competing against government-backed dinosaurs and almost feudal laws.

 

Here’s an example. Hewlett-Packard has its headquarters in Palo Alto, in the United States. You probably already knew it was an American company, but the truth is Hewlett-Packard has more than 140,000 employees in 178 countries. It is the largest tech company in almost every continent and has shareholders, executives and suppliers dispersed around the world. Hewlett-Packard pays taxes in the US and in every country it has operations. And the best part is that if you think Hewlett-Packard is American, perhaps tomorrow it won’t be because some European or Japanese holding company could buy a significant share and “de-Americanize” it even more.

 

In the modern, globalized world, shareholders and consumers rule the roost. Governments and politicians are obstructionist holdouts from the past. If E.On wants to buy Endesa at a better price than Gas Natural (and moreover, in cash rather than in Gas Natural shares), good for E.On. And what about the hysteric dinosaurs who “believe” in Spain and want to manipulate the “experts” like CNE? Calm down! No matter what happens, Spain will stay the same: with the River Tajo in place, its Pyrenees mountains…