Construction company internationalization
Introduction
Actividades de Comunicación y Servicios, S. A. (IBEX 35: ACS),[3] better known as ACS or Grupo ACS, is a Spanish construction company. It is present in different economic sectors through investee companies, such as Hochtief, CIMIC Group, Turner and Servicios Industriales Cobra. Its president and promoter since its origins is Florentino Pérez who, with a group of engineers, first bought Construction Padrós and then OCISA.
History
It was created after the merger of Ocisa, founded in 1942, which brought together all the companies of Bancos Hispano Americano and Urquijo, and Construcciones Padrós, founded in 1968, which gave rise to OCP Construcciones, in 1992, and subsequently merged, in 1997, with Ginés Navarro Construcciones, founded in 1930, and Vías, founded in 1928, both controlled by the March family. They made the quantitative leap in 2002 by purchasing a controlling stake in Dragados. In 2007, the ACS Group acquired a significant stake in Hochtief, one of the world leaders in infrastructure development, with a strong presence in the United States, Central Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia. This operation provided the ACS Group with a platform to accelerate its international expansion. In September 2016, the ACS Group sold Urbaser to the firm Firion Investments, which meant reducing a debt that amounted to more than 2.5 billion euros at the end of 2015.
In 2006, ACS bought 10% of Iberdrola, reaching that same year more than 12% of the electricity company, in theory in a friendly manner with the aim of avoiding a hostile takeover bid by foreign companies, as ended up happening with Endesa. In 2010, the tension between both companies reached its zenith, after the veto of ACS directors from joining the electricity company's board due to incompatibilities due to investments in other energy companies.[4] After the complete divestment made in Iberdrola and started in 2016,[5] ACS maintains a significant stake in Hochtief, currently one of the leading construction companies worldwide.
Among the main shareholders throughout the company's history are the March family, the "Albertos" (Alberto Alcocer and Alberto Cortina), Miquel Fluxà Rosselló and the aforementioned Florentino Pérez, who since 2015 has been the largest shareholder.