(Bloomberg) -- Companies are fleeing Catalonia and heading for new homes around Spain in their rush to dodge the secessionist threat.
CaixaBank SA, the region's biggest lender, said Friday it would move its legal base to Valencia, while Banco Sabadell SA is headed for Alicante, a two-hour drive down the Mediterranean coast from the new home of its larger rival. At least in the Valencia region they speak Valenciano, which is very like Catalan. Gas Natural SA, meanwhile, is on its way to Madrid, at least temporarily.
For the lenders, it's all about keeping within the European Union and European Central Bank frameworks as well as reassuring customers worried about what happens if Catalonia becomes a republic. While Spanish law has safeguards against many worst-case scenarios for banks, a possible new legal regime under a hypothetical Catalan state would be an unknown.
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For Catalan companies in general, making the move might make sense to avoid the legal insecurity that a declaration of independence would bring.
“We are a Catalan and Spanish company, the oldest in the country since 1551,” cava maker Codorniu SA said in a statement. “We hope we don't get to that point but if the unilateral declaration of independence happens, changing our legal base is an option we have thought about.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net, Todd White in Madrid at twhite2@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vidya Root at vroot@bloomberg.net, Paul Armstrong, Dulue Mbachu
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