On November 30, 2022, Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khaled bin Hussein Al Al-Bayari He was one of the people who attended the signing of the contract by which the Arab kingdom commissioned the Spanish company Navantia to build five corvettes. As a representative of the Spanish Government, she was the then Minister of Industry Reyes Maroto. It was one more step in the special relationship, arms sales military included, which unites businesss of both countries for decades.
The number two of the Saudi Ministry of Defense is an advisor to STC, company in which he developed a long career before becoming its CEO from 2015 to 2018. On the board he shares a table with another of the heavyweights of the military network of the Arab country: Waleed bin Ibrahim Shukri, member of the authority’s risk committee. general who controls military industries. Arabia is the fifth country with the highest military spending in the world: 75 billion dollars in 2022 Ahead: the US, China, Russia and India.
The only Western representative on the STC board is the German financier Arndt Reutenberg, founder of the investment bank of the same name and who was former head of strategy at Deutsche Telekom. Germany is one of Telefónica’s strategic markets. to top it all off STC’s project director, José del Valle, worked for 17 years at Telefónica.
Too many coincidences and interests for anyone from the Spanish Government and an endogamous sector (like many others) such as telecommunications, knew nothing about what was happening in the market in line with the entry of STC into the capital of the Spanish company, where it wants to be the first shareholder.
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Since April 8, 2016, José María Álvarez Pallete has presided telephone. Its objective has been to establish an appropriate strategy to once again generate decent value in a company that was highly indebted in a sector in full transformation of the business model. Telefónica, which became Spain’s most valued company at the turn of the century, saw its share value fall from highs of 30.72 euros in March 2000 to 2.79 euros in November 2020. When Pallete took over presidency a share cost 10.54 euros. The announcement of the emergence of STC, after an immediate revaluation, has hardly meant any changes compared to recent months. It remains at the average of 3.85 euros.
Telefónica has been insisting for several years that its business is no longer telecommunications, but rather the management, development and distribution of its own and its clients’ data. Data, necessary and strategic for the success of any sector, is the new oil. As is the case with the control of this raw material, countries and their companies -private or controlled by the State- have entered into the competition for the data technology. And not all countries play with the same weapons. A question for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who met with Vladimir Putin this week: Could a European telecommunications or data company buy 9.9% of STC?