Legal Recommendations Regarding Labor and Commercial Law Legal Operations in Spain

Isaac Millán, Partner, Quirón Salud, Spain

Finally, it appears to be that though slowly, the economic recovery has arrived to Spain. The crisis that hit the Country in 2008 seems to be water under the bridge, since one of the key factors that gave birth to the crisis, the real estate sector, is growing again. If last year we saw quite a few international funds keeping an eye on the opportunities arising out in Spain, this year home sales appear to grow continuously, up by 13% in the second quarter of the year, following a rise of 4% in the first quarter, sustaining the six quarter in a row when sales have increased year on year. If we add to the formula that the forecast for the Gross Domestic Product growth is expected to be around 3% for this year, we have a pretty good scenario in which opportunities may arise for the survivors or for the eagle-eyed ones. In relation to Spanish companies, since 2008, more than 35.000 companies have perished and those that have survived, can see now a scenario where, if they possess adequate financial resources, growth opportunities appear in the market. When talking about acquisitions, there are several kind of transactions. The most common ones one can see in the market are: (i) acquisitions of companies as a whole; (ii) acquisitions of assets taken individually or in a group; and (iii) acquisition of productive units ("unidades productivas"). Any one of them, has its own particularities so we cannot assert that there is one better than the others, since it will depend on the particular transaction and the purpose wanted by buyer and seller, but usually all of them take place for growth causes (gaining market quota, or consolidate the existing one, gaining competitiveness, get rid of competitors, etc).

Quirón Salud is the largest private hospital group in Spain, with 21 general hospitals and an extenisve network of specialist outpatient clinics. Millán