CriteriaCaixa's Board proposes the renewal of Isidro Fainé as Chairman for the next four years
The Board of Directors of CriteriaCaixa, the holding company that manages the business assets of the "la Caixa" Foundation, has agreed to propose the re-election of Isidro Fainé as Chairman for the statutory period of four years.
Isidro Fainé, who is also Chairman of the "la Caixa" Foundation, CriteriaCaixa's sole shareholder, has led a period of consolidation of the holding company in recent years, consolidating its position as the largest shareholder of strategic companies such as CaixaBank and Naturgy, and carrying out a process of reorganisation and diversification of its asset portfolio - with a gross value of 26,000 million euros - which will ensure a stable and sustainable flow of dividends to finance the Foundation's social activity in the coming decades.
The Board has also approved the proposed appointment of Juan José López Burniol as first vice-chairman of the company. López Burniol, who until now was a member of the CriteriaCaixa Board, also holds the position of Vice-Chairman of the "la Caixa" Foundation.
Criteria's Board of Directors also approved the proposed renewal of José Antonio Asiáin, Marcos Contreras, Jean-Louis Chaussade, Isabel Estapé, Josep-Delfí Guardia and Francesc Homs as directors of the company for a period of four years, as well as the appointment of Ángel Simón as a new director.
The Board of Directors also agreed to propose the appointment of Ángel Simón as CEO of the company, replacing Marcelino Armenter, who will step down as of 31 January 2024. CriteriaCaixa's highest governing body wished to explicitly thank Marcelino Armenter for his dedication to the entity and his work as the company's chief executive in recent years.
Ángel Simón (Manresa, 1957) is Chairman of Agbar and Senior Vice President Iberia & Latam at Veolia. The new CEO of CriteriaCaixa is a civil engineer and joined the Agbar group in 1995, where he held numerous positions of responsibility until his appointment as Chairman in 2010. He has also been Executive Vice-President of Suez (2013-2022) and Manager of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (1989-1995), among other positions.
He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Professional Career Achievement Award from the Caminos Foundation in 2023, and the Medal of Honour for Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 from Foment del Treball. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Princess of Girona Foundation and the Spanish Royal Academy Foundation.
Thus, the Board of Directors of CriteriaCaixa, once approved by the Board of Trustees of the "la Caixa" Foundation at the meeting scheduled for 15 February 2024, will be made up of the following members:
Chairman: Isidro Fainé Casas
First Vice-Chairman: Juan José López Burniol
Second Vice-Chairman: Javier Godó Muntañola
Managing Director: Ángel Simón Grimaldos
Members: Enrique Alcántara-García Irazoqui José Antonio Asiáin Ayala, Marcos Contreras Manrique, Jean-Louis Chaussade, Isabel Estapé Tous, Eugenio Gay Montalvo, Josep-Delfí Guardia Canela, Francesc Homs Ferret, Juan Manuel Negro Balbás, Asunción Ortega Enciso, Montserrat Trapé Viladomat, Adolfo Feijóo Rey (secretary non-director)
A record budget at the service of a social commitment
The budget of the "la Caixa" Foundation, which finances its activities with the dividends it receives each year from CriteriaCaixa, will reach 600 million euros in 2024. This is the largest budget in the history of the institution, and is 12% higher than in 2023, when it reached 538 million euros.
Over the last fifteen years, the "la Caixa" Foundation has allocated 7,000 million euros to social, scientific, educational and cultural initiatives, aimed at its mission of building a fairer society with more opportunities for all, especially for those most in need. The "la Caixa" Foundation is the leading foundation in Spain, the second largest in Europe and one of the most important in the world in terms of volume of assets under management and social investment.
Of the total investment planned for 2024, 58.7%, more than 350 million euros, will be allocated to the development of social programmes, such as CaixaProinfancia, with the aim of fighting child poverty; the Incorpora and Reincorpora work integration projects; the programme of Comprehensive Care for People with Advanced Illnesses, as well as the Elderly People programme, to encourage the social participation of this group. Within this section, the Calls for Aid for Social Projects will have a budget of nearly 60 million euros, to meet the needs of all the territories.
Investment in social programmes will grow by more than 10% in 2024 compared to the previous year, and will be the area of the Foundation with the largest budget increase, with the aim of promoting strategic programmes with social impact and transformative impact on the main social problems. Support for medical research -with the construction of the CaixaResearch Institute-, the dissemination of culture and science and support for the education and training of all kinds of groups will continue to be priority areas for the institution.
The Chairman of the "la Caixa" Foundation and CriteriaCaixa, Isidro Fainé, stressed that "we are opening a new phase and giving a new impetus to the CriteriaCaixa project, with the aim of ensuring the financial resources that the "la Caixa" Foundation will need in the coming years to carry out its social work. The approval of a budget of 600 million euros for 2024 is a very important step in the history of the entity. In a highly complex world, with increasing levels of inequality, the "la Caixa" Foundation maintains its commitment to social and human development, especially that of the most vulnerable people".