Bartlett will no longer blame Iberdrola

At the roots of the dogmas that manipulate the president of Mexico there is a confusion between companies and countries.

The phenomenon emerged in the last century when, for example, Coca Cola was converted by communists into an embassy of the United States; Fidel Castro was surprised that Mexican minors easily recognized Disney characters and not so much the heroes of the country.

One was also surprised that, for Fidel, the absence of freedoms on the island was less important than the decisions made by Washington. Mysteries exist in the absence of reasoning.

In Tokyo, many minors believe that Disney characters have Japanese nationality.

No problem. Disney shareholders don’t care about that perception.

It is uncertain whether the nationality of businessman Carlos Slim adds value to his business in Latin America, and vice versa.

It is likely that for President López Obrador there are no differences between Luis Enrique, coach of the red team at the Qatar World Cup, and the CEO of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán. Both are Spanish. What is certain is that AMLO underestimates the relationship with Spain due to its bad relationship with the electricity company Iberdrola. Spain is not Iberdrola. Is much more.

Iberdrola is a multinational company whose mission transcends Spain, and its shareholders seek to maximize profit beyond the geography of the business.

With the consultation process used by AMLO on the Texcoco airport, it became clear that his dogmas are far from rationality. First your decision and then the simulation of a consultation.

The president of Mexico has wasted several years in injuring the relationship with Spain. He says that he keeps it on “pause” for various reasons: what if the letter to King Felipe VI, what if Felipe Calderón, what if El País, what if Iberdrola.

Luis Miguel González, director of The Economist, wrote a simile that portrays what happened last Tuesday between AMLO and Iberdrola: a divorce. “It was a $6 billion divorce. The official photo with AMLO, Rogelio Ramírez de la O and Ignacio Sánchez Galán, CEO of Iberdrola, wants to suggest cordiality, but the reality is different: the relationship is bad.

In effect, AMLO decided to place obstacles in the way of Iberdrola until the company got tired, stopped investing in Mexico and sold part of its business. In its 2023-2025 investment plan, Mexico was practically left out. Of the 47,000 million euros to be invested, the United States will take 50%.

AMLO’s dogma translates the agreement with Iberdrola into a “nationalization”, a concept that takes us to the last century where the Mexican State put popcorn in the oven to sell it in the network of its COTSA cinemas.

“We got rid of the regulatory problems in Mexico,” José Sainz, Iberdrola’s chief financial officer, told a group of analysts last week.

“Most of the regulatory problems were in the transferred assets. The problems go away with the assets, so we are now almost free of the problems with the Mexican government”.

Sainz mentioned that, of the 8,436 megawatts (MW) sold by Iberdrola, the majority, more than 7,000, are part of government concessions that begin to expire in 2027.

Blessed rationality for those who bought the Eiffel Tower.

“We entered a new phase of the relationship with the Mexican government, which was very interested in buying these concessions. They were very important to them. This operation obviously changes to improve relations and gives us an opportunity in the country”.

In Mexico, Iberdrola will maintain 2,400 megawatts of renewables, gas cycles and cogeneration, in addition to the marketing business.

Iberdrola is the second electricity company in the world by market value, after the American NextEra.

Its capitalization value is over 70,000 million euros, surpassing the American Duke Energy.

Mr. Manuel Bartlett will be in charge of the plants sold by Iberdrola. He will need more than luck to prevent the efficiency of the plants from falling. Let’s hope that the second time the system doesn’t crash.

The important thing is the dogma.