Pemex wants to use Repsol's dividend payment to take on 60% of the Spanish company's debt and increase its ownership of the company. The deal would be financially neutral for Pemex, who has been one of Repsol's competitors. In line with its ally Sacyr, who has an enormous debt burden on its shoulders, dividends can prove to be instruments of tricky financing.
Pemex's scheme will affect how they decide to compensate corporate leaders after ousting Antonia Brufau from his CEO position. Paying in dividends is easier so long as the Petróleos Mexicanos-Sacyr tandem has control. Their strategy, then, is not focused on the Spanish side of the business necessarily, but in an instrumental way, that they will look to exploit dividend capacity and might consider splitting them into partial payouts or structure them in a way that is most advantageous for the health of their accounts, but not Repsol's future.
A company's biggest shareholder influences operational decisions that, in theory, benefit the shareholder. All issues are generally beyond the scope of minority shareholders. Pemex's business structure, controlled by the Mexican government, and the construction company presided by Del Rivero is begging us to question why they would interfere in Repsol's planning, investments and overall stability.
This deal is about an issue that requires the Spanish government to guarantee that the process is not carried out at the expense of over-exploiting one of the biggest companies on the Ibex. The government should stop turning a blind eye.
