Yesteryear's economic boom time continues to pressure Ibex companies. They are still selling off massive amounts of debt that they took on years ago to finance development projects and plans to globalize their business.
The companies are deleveraging by selling assets, but at an uneven rate. Between June and December of 2012, companies listed on the Ibex made a big effort to reduce their debt loads, but this energy slowed in the first six months of 2013.
They managed to trim 11.6% of their debt during this period to around 192.6 billion euros. Considering that there is still a lot of debt to pay down, many more divestments are necessary. The perfect formula is to trim debt without cutting away too much of their foreign business, which is generally strong at this time.