Banco Mediolanum leaves Barcelona for Valencia; Gas Natural Fenosa calls EGM

BARELY 48 hours after Banco Sabadell announced its intention to move its head office to Alicante, reports claim the Mediolanum Bank also plans to leave Catalunya and set up in Valencia instead.

And CaixaBank is said to be seriously considering following suit.

Two of the biggest brands of cava in Spain – Cordoniu and Freixenet – both say they are concerned about the threat of Catalunya's independence and the latter is already thinking of moving its operations out of the region.

Gas Natural Fenosa has called an extraordinary general meeting this evening to discuss and weigh up whether or not to leave Catalunya.

Telecommunications operator Eurona announced yesterday it would be moving its head office from Barcelona to Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Greater Madrid region), although admits it has been toying with the idea for over a year since it bought out Quantis, Hablaya, Stoneworks and Sultán Telecom, all of which are already based in the capital and now provide up to 80% of Eurona's sales.

But Eurona's decision was partly driven by the 'secession fever' which has been gathering momentum in Catalunya and which already caused 405 companies to leave the region in the first quarter of 2017.

Proclinic Expert, based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona province), has now moved to Zaragoza, Aragón where it already has a major logistics centre.

Biochemical firm Oryzon announced this week it was moving from Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona province) to Madrid, whilst Naturhouse did so in August for 'operational reasons' – unspecified – following on from identical moves by Derby Hotels, NH Hotels and Suez Environment, which owns the firm Agbar.

Spain's economy minister Luis de Guindos has put in place measures to make it easier for firms based in Catalunya to move elsewhere in Spain.