Latin American investment in Spain: A springboard to Europe, the Middle East and Asia

Presentation of the study “Latin American Investment in Spain”

Núria Vilanova president of CEAPI: “The total convergence between Spain and Latin America is fundamental for the internationalization of both and the attraction of new markets.”

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The Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America (CEAPI) as Think Tank has presented a new study with the title “Latin American Investment in Spain” in which the moment of bilateral relations is collected, its effect on the Ibero-American economy and its future repercussions.

The event was held at the headquarters of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), with the presidency of its general secretary, Andrew Allamand, who highlighted that “at SEGIB we had identified certain traits of companies that are internationalizing and that are now landing in Spain. Some are cutting-edge, highly technological companies that make innovation a hallmark. They are very intelligent companies when it comes to taking advantage of opportunities, they add value not only from an economic point of view, but also from a social one”, and the president of CEAPI, Núria Vilanova.

The study was directed by Professor Isabel Álvarez Professor of Applied Economics at the Complutense Institute of International Studies (ICEI) and has analyzed the responses of Latin American companies that invest and want to invest in Spain, which in most cases continue their internationalization towards Europe and the United States. The study collects the motivations for capital and investment flows from Latin America to Spain, their evolution and has also dealt with the interpretation of the data collected.

In this way, the study concludes that the priority reason for the decision to invest in Spain indicated by 86% of those surveyed is “open a new investment phase of internationalization of the company, that is, continue with the evolutionary process of Latin American companies in their internationalization process.”

Therefore, we can say that Spain maintains and increases its attractiveness as an investor country and as a springboard to other markets, especially in the European Union as recognized by more than half of the companies surveyed, without forgetting that 40% of those surveyed also consider that it serves as a platform to invest in Spain as an important factor for investing in Spain. Asia and other distant countries.

In fact, the market is one of the main attractions of Latin American investments when choosing Spain; for 60% of those surveyed it is essential to have Spanish companies as clients and suppliers, which is related to the solidity of the customer base and supply chain, which influences decision making.”

Furthermore, the institutional and regulatory framework is an aspect that more than 80% of the companies questioned consider important and very important and within this, issues related to the financial, banking and credit system, as well as the legal stability that guarantees compliance with the law and contracts.

Núria Vilanova thanked both the study's director, Isabel Álvarez, and the companies that contributed their responses to the research, which demonstrates with data "the excellent state of economic interaction between Spain and Latin America."

On the contrary, the presence of competing Spanish companies is the least important reason. Likewise, access and location of assets such as technology and innovation are not particularly attractive elements of the Spanish economy.

All of these data have been explained during the presentation by the director of the study Isabel Álvarez, which concluded “after the pandemic shock of 2020, Bidirectional flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) have been reactivated in Latin America, which strengthens its strategic role in the international context. The challenges of the present and the future become an opportunity for business action as a transformative vector of economic and productive systems, allowing firm progress towards sustainable, social and environmental growth.

In this sense, Isabel Álvarez, in terms of the future, has detailed three strong ideas that emanate from the study:

CEAPI companies emphasize the importance of taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the ease of doing business in Latin America when it comes to diversifying markets, and also business and product lines.

The investor attractiveness of the Spanish economy invites reinforce its role as a springboard country; A range of possible positive externalities opens up to deepen alliances between the EU and Latin America, and take advantage of the redesign of international value chains: Europe, the Middle East and Asia They are established as preferred regions.

Likewise, the challenges of digitalization and the ecological transition They open a new business opportunity to advance towards greater technological sophistication and take a great leap in innovation that guarantees the growth of productivity and employment, since social mobility must be promoted through education and the reduction of the employment gap. gender in Ibero-America, also in leadership and governance.

For her part, Núria Vilanova has thanked both the director of the study Isabel Álvarez and the companies that have fed with their responses the research that demonstrates with data “the excellent moment of economic interaction between Spain and Latin America which translates into bidirectional relationships from which both benefit but which have their future in internationalization towards the rest of the countries. We are stronger starting projects in Europe, Asia and the US with bases in Spain and Latin America”. The president of CEAPI recalled that “to the investments that we analyze today we will have to add a new wave of entrepreneurship led by the children of Latin American businessmen who are currently being trained in Spain. The impact on all these new elites of young people trained in Spain is something that we cannot yet measure, but we can intuit from close experiences.”

Finally, the president of CEAPI, Núria Vilanova, recalled that most of the aspects analyzed in the study will be present in the VII Ibero-American Congress CEAPI for Presidents of Companies and Business Families, which will take place from June 17 to 19, 2024 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. An event that, under the title Believe, Grow, Create. Ibero-America, faced with the challenge of growth and productivity, is moving to Latin American territory for the second time, after the event in the Dominican Republic in 2022, and in which 500 presidents of the main multi-Bero-American companies with investments on both sides of the Atlantic will participate.