companies

Spanair calls for voluntary bankruptcy and prepares the mass layoff of its 2,065 workers

January 30, 2012 10:39 PM | CNA

The Catalan airline has a debt of €474 million; €260 million of which is with its shareholders and the remaining €214 millions with providers, airports and social security. The Catalan Government has invested €140 million in the airline, split in loans given to the company and in Spanair’s capital. Spanair stopped all its activity on Friday evening because it could not find any additional funding. All the more than 12,000 Spanair passengers passing through Catalonia over the weekend found an alternative flight using other airlines.

Spanair cancels all its flights and stops its activity for financial reasons

January 28, 2012 12:31 AM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

Due to the impossibility of finding extra capital, the Barcelona-based airline’s board has taken the decision to cancel all its flights and to suspend the company’s activity. Negotiations with Qatar Airways broke down, which forced Spanair’s board to analyse the company’s viability. The Catalan Government, which partially owns the airline, has refused to invest more money in the company, and thus Spanair stopped flying. Passengers will be refunded and will be able to buy discounted tickets with other airlines.

Final countdown to the world’s main mobile phone and technology congress

January 26, 2012 11:54 PM | CNA / Jordi Pueyo i Busquets

This year's edition Mobile World Congress will be the first after Barcelona was officially declared the Mobile World Capital, and the organising city of this annual event until at least 2018. The MWC will start on February 27th with the motto “Redefining mobile”. More than 1,400 companies will be present and organisers expect to break last year’s records. There will also be three times more Catalan companies.

Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce “reinvents” itself and “leads the transformation” of these institutions in Spain

January 18, 2012 10:55 PM | CNA / Josep Ramon Torné

The President of Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce hopes others will join them by adopting a model that combines both public and private cooperation to offer companies new services such as a fund of €2 billion for loans or access to a world network of 1,500 chambers of commerce. With this new model, the Chamber wants to leave the past two years of budget cuts behind, focus on the future, be more useful to its members and offer added value services.

Banc Sabadell buys Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo (CAM) for just €1 after a successful regularisation process

December 7, 2011 10:31 PM | CNA

With this operation, the Catalan Banc Sabadell becomes Spain’s fifth largest banking group. The Bank of Spain has decided to accept Banc Sabadell’s offer to purchase the CAM, a savings bank that was rescued and restructured. Banc Sabadell buys CAM after the savings bank completed a €5.25 billion regularisation process to balance its books. Banc Sabadell will take on 20% of the expected losses over the next ten years from CAM’s real estate properties.

Renault and Nissan to use Catalonia-based Ficosa’s gearbox in their new mid-range vehicles in their main markets worldwide

October 7, 2011 01:46 PM | CNA

The Franco-Japanese company has chosen the Catalan car component manufacturer Ficosa as their only automatic gearbox supplier for all the new cars targeting a middle-class market segment. The agreement is for the European, North-American, South-American and Asian markets. It will represent a sales volume of 45 million euros for Ficosa. The news reinforces Greater Barcelona as a base for the automotive industry.