İspanyol Wi-Fi kablosuz internet servis sağlayıcısı Grupo Gowex bütün
fonlarını Almanya’ya transfer etme kararı aldı. Grup bu kararına gerekçe olarak
İspanya’nın Euro’dan çıkacağını ve Peseta’ya geri dönüleceğini gösterdi. Şirketin
CEO’su Jenaro Garcia ‘İspanya’nın Euro Zone içerisinde kalabileceğine
inanmıyorum’ şeklinde açıklama yaptı. Garcia ‘Avrupa’da 15 ülkede hizmet
verdiklerini hatırlatarak, ‘Bütün fonlarımızı Almanya’ya aktarıyoruz. İspanya Peseta’ya
dönecek’ (BLOOMBERG)
“I don’t trust
Spain will remain in the euro zone,”
said Jenaro Garcia, founder and chief executive officer of Madrid- based Grupo
Gowex, which provides Wi-Fi access in 15 countries. “We moved our cash and
deposits to Germany because Spain will come back to the peseta.”
European
companies spent billions preparing for the euro when
it was introduced in 2000 by 11 countries. Contingency planning for an
unraveling of the currency involves cutting investment, moving money to Germany, transferring
headquarters to northern Europe from
southern, and even going out of business, according to interviews with more
than 20 executives.
Grupo Gowex (GOW), a Spanish provider of Wi-Fi wireless
services, is moving funds to Germany because it expects Spain to exit the euro. German machinery
maker GEA Group AG is
setting maximum amounts held at any one bank.
“I don’t trust Spain will remain in the euro zone,” said
Jenaro Garcia, founder and chief executive officer of Madrid- based Grupo
Gowex, which provides Wi-Fi access in 15 countries. “We moved our cash and
deposits to Germany because Spain will come back to the peseta.”
European companies spent billions preparing for the euro when
it was introduced in 2000 by 11 countries. Contingency planning for an
unraveling of the currency involves cutting investment, moving money to Germany,
transferring headquarters to northern Europe from southern, and even going out of
business, according to interviews with more than 20 executives.
The Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, registered capital inflows
of 11.3 billion euros ($15 billion) from non-banks in September, according to
the breakdown of its current account published
Nov. 9. That helped transform a deficit of 47.3 billion euros in Germany’s
balance of other capital flows in August to a surplus of 700 million euros in
September.
In another bid to end the debt crisis, European leaders added 200
billion euros to their warchest and tightened anti- deficit rules in what they
called a “fiscal compact” at a meeting in Brussels. European stocks dropped and
the euro was little changed as the plan disappointed some investors.
“How do you control an explosion in a controlled way?” Fiat SpA (F) Chief Executive OfficerSergio Marchionne told reporters in Brussels on Dec. 2.
“That’s a contradiction in terms. This will be an implosion of some size with
potentially disastrous consequences.”
Companies switched gears from preparing for a possible exit by
Greece to some sort of currency breakdown after Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi’s government collapsed and 10-year Italian bond yields rose past 7
percent in November.
“A couple of weeks ago I would never have thought about having
conversations on the probability of the euro disappearing, but now there is
more speculation on such a scenario,”Wolters Kluwer NV (WKL) CEO Nancy McKinstry said in a Nov. 29
interview at the company’s headquarters outside Amsterdam.
The board of Wolters Kluwer, Europe’s largest tax and legal publisher
with offices in Frankfurt, Milan, London and Phoenix, has spent more time on
scenario planning, she said.
Tapping
Reserves
“We obviously have plans in place if something happens,” ABB Ltd. (ABBN) CEO Joe Hogansaid in
Zurich on Dec. 1. “They can never be as robust as you’d want them to be but we
certainly are prepared if there is a crisis.”
The Swiss engineering company “updated what we would do” in the
past few weeks, Hogan said. “We just keep updating and making our plan more and
more detailed.’
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world’s largest maker
of luxury cars, has honed its plans developed following the 2009 financial
crisis and is prepared to act if markets dive, Chief Financial Officer
Friedrich Eichiner said in November.
The Munich-based carmaker’s response would include reducing
production by as much as 30 percent and using its banking unit to directly tap
central bank reserves. The company also has reduced its leasing portfolio to
manage risks in case used car values decline.
Companies outside the euro region are doing just as much
preparation as those inside. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said yesterday he’s seen studies
suggesting a collapse of the euro would lead to a “very significant” drop in
U.K. economic output.
Spreading
the Risk
Kingfisher Plc (KGF), Europe’s largest home-improvement
retailer, has considered plans for the possibility of a collapse of the euro
region and will focus on cash generation to account for that possibility, Chief
Executive Officer Ian Cheshire said.
The London-based company would start with a focus on working
capital and making sure planned capital-spending projects reflect the level of
uncertainty, Cheshire said in an interview on Dec. 1. It would probably also
stop chasing unprofitable sales or market share with promotions, and focus on
cash margins instead.
Top of the list of concerns among companies is the collapse of one
or more financial institutions in Europe. Executives say they’re already moving
money around to avert that risk.
‘Survival
Mode’
“We are more careful about investment decisions,” said Juerg
Oleas, CEO of GEA, a machinery maker based in Dusseldorf. “We have internally
defined maximum amounts that we place with a single bank.”
K+S AG, Europe’s biggest potash supplier, said the
company is assessing the counter-party risk of the banks it works with and,
should they reach predetermined thresholds, stop the flow of any new funds into
that institution.
“We spread our risk by defining maximum amounts that we allocate
to individual bank or issuers of commercial paper and spread our funds broadly
among many different parties,” said K+S spokesman Michael Wudonig.
Juan Jose Nieto, chairman of Service Point Solutions SA (SPS), a Barcelona-based
document-management company, said he would move the company’s headquarters to
the U.K. or Scandinavia in the event of a euro breakup.
“We’ve had to reinvent our business in the last few years because
of the crisis,” he said in an interview. “We’re in survival mode. What’s
happening in Greece and Italy not only affects banks but also companies like
us.”
