The Spanish construction company Ferrovial moves its headquarters to the Netherlands. A majority of the shareholders of the billion-dollar company agreed on Thursday with this controversial step, so report Spanish media. The Spanish government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had argued against Ferrovial’s relocation plans, but that has had no effect.
According to the multinational, the company can apply for cheaper credit from the Netherlands and there are more favorable laws and regulations here. Critics and Spanish politicians point to the reputation of the Netherlands as a tax haven and think that Ferrovial is mainly motivated to move because of the tens of millions of euros in tax benefits that this will yield. CEO Rafael del Pino previously complained about the high taxes that Spain applies to excessive corporate profits.
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Ferrovial was founded in 1952 and today has an annual turnover of approximately 7.5 billion euros. It owns 25 percent of London’s Heathrow Airport, provided part of the infrastructure for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and employs more than 24,000 people. Ferrovial has assured its 5,500 employees in Spain that they will not be affected by the changes.