The Government will urgently process the creation of the 'SEPI Digital' in the Council of Ministers this Tuesday

MADRID, 4 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government will urgently process in the Council of Ministers this Tuesday the creation of the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), the new public company (colloquially baptized as 'SEPI Digital') with which the Executive aspires to mobilize 20,000 million of euros in technological investments and with which it is planned to control the State's entry into Telefónica.

The Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, José Luis Escrivá, pointed out last Monday that the Executive's idea is to urgently process the creation of the SETT in the next Council of Ministers, that is, in which this meeting will be held. Tuesday, March 5, although it is estimated that the approval of the royal decree that will establish the creation of the new entity will take place in "two or three months."

Although there are various scenarios about how this new public entity will control the entry of the State into Telefónica, the Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Corpo, has assured in an interview in the economic newspaper 'Expansión' that the order carried out by the Council of Ministers last December it is "very clear" that the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) will be in charge of entering the shareholding of the Spanish telecom company.

Meanwhile, Escrivá, when asked last week about the fit that SETT would have to manage the state participation in Telefónica, pointed out that "it would make sense", although he added that "we will have to see it over time."

In this sense, last December the State ordered SEPI to acquire up to 10% of the share capital of Telefónica, a movement that occurred in response to the surprising landing in the company of the Saudi operator STC, which in September of last year it acquired by 2,100 million euros for 9.9% of the Spanish telecom company (4.9% with direct shares and another 5% through financial derivatives).

In this context, sources close to the creation process of the new entity have indicated to Europa Press that the profile sought to direct the SETT is that of a person with "accredited experience in the field of investment", who "does not would necessarily have to come from a financial institution".

The reason for looking for a profile of this type to direct the SETT is mainly due to the large volume of financing that is expected to be mobilized with the new public company and also to its investment nature, so one that is more technical or specialized in the sector technology loses strength.

However, there is still nothing decided about who will ultimately lead this new public company, so all options are open.

The creation of the SETT responds to the need of the Executive to "gain operationality" in the management of the large volume of European resources and of a different nature that will be allocated to this sector in Spain, the same sources have indicated.

They affirm that greater "unity of action" is needed than that offered by the current model when defining which and by what instruments certain projects are financed that could fit simultaneously into the Perte Chip (endowed with 12,000 million euros), in the NextTech fund (4,000 million euros) or the Audiovisual Hub (1,700 million euros), which will now be under the protection of the SETT.

In this way, the new public company seeks to unify the management of these funds to "optimize efficiency" and "streamline" the process of awarding the Executive's technological investments.