The Catalan companies With international projection, they have withstood the first attack of the pandemic and continue to proliferate throughout the world. There are currently a total of 3,165 companies with headquarters in Catalonia and that have 8,328 offices throughout the world, according to data published this Thursday by the Ministry of Business and Work. In other words, companies that internationalize have an average of 2.6 subsidiaries. The service company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) is the firm with the greatest international projection, followed by the pharmaceutical company grifols and the pool equipment manufacturer fluidra. Also noteworthy are popularly known firms such as Mango, Mediapro, Freixenet either Pepe Jeans. And although the three companies with the most subsidiaries are listed on the IBEX 35the Generalitat study confirms that 83.4% of companies with an international presence are SMEs.
Although Southeast Asia has been gaining ground in recent years, Europe continues to concentrate the bulk of the subsidiaries of Catalan companies. FCC, for example, obtains close to 12% of its income from that continent. Portugal It is the country with the highest percentage, where 9.3% of these 8,328 offices abroad are located. The executives of the sanitaryware manufacturer Roca -the sixth with the most subsidiaries- have a two-hour plane ride plus an hour and a half by car between their offices on Barcelona’s Diagonal and those in Leiria, north of Lisbon.
However, America also stands as a recurring business opportunity for Catalans. Two out of every 10 offices outside Catalonia are in USA, Mexico either Brazil. There are companies like Comsa Corporations -the fifth Catalan company with the most subsidiaries abroad- that have been awarded projects such as the construction of the Sao Paulo metro (Brazil) or track renewal of various sections of the Light Rail in Mexico City. Or the perfumers of puig, for which the United States became their number one market last year. Others, like balloon -the fifteenth Catalan company with the most subsidiaries- have withdrawn from Latin America in recent years to concentrate their efforts on Eastern Europe, among others.
Next target: Asia
In this sense, from the agency action, in charge of the economic promotion of Catalonia, anticipate that Asia will gain presence in the coming years, since they identify a greater number of business opportunities there. Specifically, a study by said entity indicates that almost one in three new market niches is in Asia, at the same level as the European continent. And, by sector, the manufacture of machinery and capital goods is the option that the Generalitat identifies with the most market outlets.
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However, right now food is one of the main businesses that Catalans export to the world. Hence, 11.8% of the Catalan subsidiaries spread across the globe are dedicated to it, highlighting firms such as agrifood, founded by the Carulla family and with Gallina Blanca as its main banner. Infrastructures and construction occupy second place (10.6%), with the waste manager Trade must. They are followed by firms dedicated to finance and insurance (10.4%), such as Simon Holding, and those from the pharmaceutical industry (8.9%), with grifols as the greatest Catalan exponent.
The Generalitat de Catalunya is seeking to mark its profile in recent weeks more ‘business friendly‘. On November 17, the ‘president’ Pere Aragonès held an event in Palau to which he invited 150 executives from the main companies of foreign origin with subsidiaries in Catalonia. If then he wanted to visualize the interest of investors to settle in Catalan lands, this Friday the ‘councillor’ of Business, Roger Torrent, has wanted to get chest of the international muscle of the Catalan firms. In his opinion, the fact that the number of subsidiaries has increased since the start of the pandemic “shows the robustness of the Catalan foreign sector, which during the pandemic has adapted to the new way of doing business in the world and has continued to bet on be close to its foreign customers and suppliers through subsidiaries”.