A judge to decide if Iberdrola’s conduct was legal or against ACS

The judge ruling on the objection made by ACS over certain agreements reached at the last Iberdrola shareholders' meeting will just decide if those agreements are completely legal. He will not evaluate if Iberdrola’s purpose was to avoid ACS entrance onto its Board, among others. This means that no trial will be celebrated.

This is what Aner Uriarte, judge of the Mercantile Court No. 1 of Bilbao, decided on Wednesday during a hearing convened following a lawsuit brought by the construction firm ACS over certain decisions reached at the last Iberdrola shareholders' meeting last May 27 in Bilbao.

The directorate agreed on measures which would prevent ACS becoming a Board member despite them being a major shareholder, owning 19.2% of the Basque firm's overall capital. On the other hand, Iberdrola denies such charges and holds that their only purpose is to get a better corporate management.

ACS appealed against several decisions reached by the Board of Iberdrola refering to the shareholders’ right to be informed, the president’s powers, the assignment of voting rights, the voting rights of those shareholders with conflict of interests and the decision to cut the number of Board members.

ACS and Iberdrola also disagree on the system used to evaluate if reached agreements take majorities -of both capital and votes- into account, as it is required in each of them.

The hearing celebrated on Wednesday is just another chapter of the confrontation between ACS and Iberdrola due to continuous refusal of the electricity firm to allow ACS to enter the Board, since Iberdrola consider the construction firm a direct competitor in the fields of engineering and wind power.