The Catalan bank, which leads the Spanish market, increases its share in the Portuguese Investment Bank by 7 percentage points increasing its stake from 39.5% to 46.22%. CaixaBank purchased just over 251 million shares in the capital increase offered by the Portuguese financial entity, at a cost of €125 million. Caixabank had already said it would extend its share in the BPI.
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Catalonia’s National Museum of Art) is considering changing its name to include ‘Barcelona’. The Museum Director, Pepe Serra, wants to better explain the Museum to a global audience and considers using the “Barcelona brand” as a superior way of raising the gallery’s status. Also he believes the collections of Romanesque art, which are considered exceptional, have not been sufficiently exploited on an international level. The Museum Director also announced that despite the crisis, they will open up “many more areas for free”.
The Director General of the Catalan fashion retailer, Enric Casi, had already warned that the MANGO's profits in 2011 would be lower than usual due to its extensive investments and expansions abroad. In 2012, the company expects a profit of €200 million due to the investments and has already seen positive results for the first months of this year. The successful multinational was founded in Barcelona in 1984 and has over 2,400 outlets in 107 countries and over 11,000 employees.
The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, also talked about the delays of August payments to social care organisations, and he “hoped to be in a better situation” next month. However Mas could not give “a total guarantee” as it depends on whether the Spanish Government activates the Liquidity Fund for the Autonomies. In fact, Mas urged the Spanish Government to do so at the end of this month and said it is “illogical” to make a grand announcement about the measure and then not implement it.
The Catalan savings bank, which the Bank of Spain intervened in last September, is selling part of its real estate stock. During the first seven months of 2012, the bank has commercialised 6,700 housing units, 40% more than last year’s same period. Around 90% were sold and the rest were rented. 56% were newly built houses and 44% were second hand properties. Regarding the location, 54% were in Catalonia, 12% in Valencia, 12% in Andalusia and 8% in Madrid.
House sales maintain a decline as results show that sales have fallen by 19% in first half of 2012. Despite the negative overall trend, Lleida and Tarragona saw a boost in sales last month, making up for the reduction in sales experienced in Barcelona and Girona, culminating in a 2.7% overall increase in sales this June for Catalonia. In Spain, the fall in the first half of the year was 21% and in June, in contrast to the increase Catalonia, there was a fall of 11.2% compared with June 2011.
The information centre at Ascó Nuclear Power Plant in Catalonia has won one of the prestigious International Architecture Awards, organised by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Arquitecture and Design. Ascó’s building, located in Southern Catalonia and designed by the Catalan architects Olga Felip and Josep Camps, was one of 81 projects from 21 countries to receive the prize. The jury highlighted the incorporation of the centre with the nuclear power plant, and its harmony with the surrounding landscape. The materials selected by the architects are designed to emulate day and night.
Barça beat Manchester United in a penalty shootout in the ‘SuperMatchen’ Trophy in Gothenburg tonight. Barça controlled most of the game, though they needed a penalty save from Víctor Valdés to keep the scores level after 90 minutes. Jordi Alba made his debut with FC Barcelona.
It is expected that the heat wave will last from Thursday to Saturday and that temperatures will climb to at least 34ºC throughout Catalonia. The Catalan Government has closed eight forest areas of high risk and has limited agricultural activity. Civil Protection is on ‘pre-alert’ in 27 counties and firefighters have began pre-emptive surveillance of areas that will be at risk. In other developments, the Catalan Police have found DNA on the cigarette butt which started the fires in Portbou.
The team responsible for keeping Barcelona’s beaches clean uses a unique combination of boats and sand vehicles, operating daily during the summer season. This summer, the sea in front of Barcelona is particularly clean, aided by favourable coastal currents and the lack of rain which has helped reduce waste on the coast. The Deputy Mayor of Urban Development, Antoni Vives, has highlighted that “this is a particularly good year for swimming in Barcelona since the water quality is high”.
The Catalan highway, transport and telecommunication management company Abertis has accepted Tagus’ takeover of its shares in Brisa, which represent 15.02% of the Portuguese highway company. Abertis now wants to focus on projects that represent added value for its global strategic action. In addition, two days ago, Abertis’ board ratified last April’s agreement to acquire 9 highway concessions from OHL in Brazil. With this operation, the Catalan company becomes the largest group in the world managing highways, with more than 7,000 kilometres worldwide.
Manchester United and FC Barcelona meet in Sweden in a re-run of the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011, both of which were won by Barça. Jordi Alba, Fontàs and Villa are all going on the ‘mini-tour’ as they get in shape for the new season.
According to a report by the trade union CCOO, with the Spanish Government’s last budget adjustment, after the sixth month of being unemployed people will no longer receive an average of €222 per month. The report points out that people aged between 45 and 55 will be the most affected since many are in a long-term unemployment situation and will no longer qualify to receive any subsidies. Cristina Faciaben from the CCOO is convinced that the last series of measures to reduce the public deficit will not achieve its objective, and on the contrary will lead to a worsening of the economic crisis.
The Catalan Government will allow universal access to community health centres, despite the Spanish Government’s decision. Autonomous Communities are those managing the public healthcare system. After announcing that immigrants would not be able to access the service without contributing to the Social Security system, the Spanish Government is now preparing formulas allowing them to continue accessing the public healthcare system if they pay the fee. The Spanish Health, Social Services and Equality has confirmed that foreign people less than 65 years old will pay €710 per year and those older will pay €1,860. Access will be free in emergencies as well as for pregnant women and minors.
The Conca de Barberà County does not want to neglect the high number of immigrants living in Catalonia and is organising Arabic, Chinese, and Wolof language classes with native speakers as a pilot project. Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania and has over 13 million speakers. The courses are designed to focus on the language, although there are aspects of tradition and custom taught in order to enhance the student’s exposure to other cultures.