Spain

A German MEP has accused Ireland of “tax dumping” after it was revealed that Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo has used an Irish company for many of his commercial contracts, instead of a company in higher-tax Spain, the Irish Times reported. The footballer appears to have used a Dublin image rights company, Multisports Image Management (MIM), to conclude many of his contracts, including deals with mobile phone companies and sportswear manufacturers.

Spanish renewable energy and engineering firm Abengoa SA has asked a U.S. bankruptcy court to enjoin legal action and future claims by creditors who are unsatisfied with a high-stakes plan to restructure $10 billion of debt, Reuters reported. Abengoa, a Sevilla-based company with a global renewable energy footprint, put its U.S. subsidiaries in Chapter 11 protection this year and filed for Chapter 15 protection from creditors of non-U.S. businesses while it thrashed out a refinancing deal to avoid becoming Spain's largest-ever corporate failure.

Spanish energy firm Abengoa reported a nine-month net loss of 5.4 billion euros ($5.80 billion) on Monday, the week after a court signed off on its debt restructuring plan which should allow it to avoid bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The Seville-based company said the profit loss was due principally to huge provisions on deteriorating assets and the slowdown of its business over the past year as it has sold of assets and slashed its workforce to keep afloat. Abengoa's nine-month core profit - or earnings before interest, tax, debt and amortization (EBITDA) - was a loss of 90 million euros.

Spain’s unemployment rate has fallen below 20 per cent for the first time in six years, as the country’s economic recovery continues to power ahead despite 10 months of political deadlock and government drift, the Financial Times reported. According to the latest data from Spain’s quarterly labour market survey, the economy created close to 480,000 jobs over the past 12 months. The number of unemployed fell by 530,000 over the same period, or 11 per cent, to 4.32m.

Renewable energy firm Abengoa is on track for the 75 percent creditor approval needed for its restructuring plan and avoid filing for Spain's biggest ever bankruptcy, a source with knowledge of the deal said on Tuesday. The Seville-based company borrowed too heavily over the past 10 years to fund an expansion into clean energy and has been negotiating with lenders since November to cut debts of more than 9 billion euros ($10 billion).

Representatives of Nueva Pescanova, the successor firm to the troubled Spanish fishing giant, have sued the old company, Pescanova S.A., alleging breaches of securities law, a regulatory filing indicates. Nueva Pescanova specifically alleges that during the 2014 merger that formed it from the remnants of debt-embattled Pescanova, the former company reserved "alleged advantages" from Nueva Pescanova. The new company would like to be indemnified for those advantages, according to the filing.

A centuries-old tapestry factory in Spain has come back from the brink of bankruptcy after an injection of public money, a debt restructuring plan and its biggest order in 200 years - a German commission for dozens of tapestries. The turnaround of the 296-year-old Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid is a rare bright spot for Spanish companies facing insolvency. Nearly 50,000 businesses have entered administration since the start of the country's economic downturn in 2008.

Telefonica SA’s efforts to reduce its debt pile suffered a new blow after the Spanish carrier was forced to scrap the initial public offering of its infrastructure unit, Telxius Telecom SA, as demand from investors proved inadequate, Bloomberg News reported today. Telefonica will continue “to analyze strategic alternatives” for Telxius, the Spanish carrier said yesterday. The decision to call off the sale was reached together with the banks that were managing the IPO, the company said.

Spain’s robust economic expansion is defying concerns that a political impasse, now in its ninth month with no end in sight, would tarnish one of Europe’s economic bright spots, The Wall Street Journal reported. But the pillars that have sustained Spain’s recovery from recession are showing signs of strain, and economists expect growth to slow in 2017—in part because political uncertainty is putting a damper on some kinds of investment. The Spanish economy grew 0.8% in the second quarter driven by consumer spending and exports, the country’s statistics agency said Thursday.

Credit ratings agency Moody's said on Wednesday the restructuring plan put forward by Spanish renewable energy and engineering firm Abengoa would reduce its debt burden, but it was unclear whether it would be successful, Reuters reported. Abengoa, which had been negotiating since November to cut its more than 9 billion euros ($10 billion) of debt, reached a restructuring deal earlier in August with its main creditors in an attempt to avoid becoming Spain's biggest ever bankruptcy.