El desembarco de Liberty en Prisaanálisis del indicador del proceso de "financiarización" del grupo

Résumé

Prisa Group, a leader in processes of vertical integration strategies in Spain and beneficiary of some deregulation processes, technological innovation and government support, has been immersed in a complex financialization system with a continuous appeal for need of financial credit to maintain its leadership position. The immediate consequences have been incurring a high debt with Spanish and foreign financial groups and the need to bring in new partners to support these movements. The aim of this paper is to study how it has been conducted and the causes and consequences of one of the most recent financialization movements in Prisa. This task will be carried out through the analysis of the Group's annual financial statements as well as other public sources. The process has consisted ofthe capital inflow of finance investment in their shares. In particular, the entry of Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp, who se promoters have also become part of the board of the Spanish-media, due to the pressing need of liquidity to partially cover the enormous debt of the Group (another of the indicators) as a consequence of the actions taken t o adapt to competition in the market, especially in the audiovisual sector. The abovementioned factors, along with a divestment process (enabled by deregulation), have been developed under the economic crisis stressed in this sector, which it has determined the evolution of the legal framework, the market structure and the business model. Prisa, as an economic undertaking, has defended the restructuring of its assets as the cornerstone to keep its leadership position in the market as well as to continue its business growth strategy. The group considers that the process it has started will guarantee a capital and finance structure for the following 10 years. However, the increasing financialization maybe translated, among other consequences, into the search of short-term profit and therefore, the most recent adjustment measures in the group (new divestments and staff restructuring) seem to answer this goal.