Four and a half years after it was approved in a referendum, Brexit is already a reality and the companies that have been waiting until its consummation to execute their contingency plans have finally made their decisions effective. Without last minute surprises, unexpected twists and new extensions, it was time to act.
Two large multinationals, the bottling company Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) and the energy company Berkeley, announced yesterday headquarters other than the City of London to establish the operational center for regulatory purposes. Until now, both companies reported to the stock market regulators in the British capital and only there, so that the information was shared with the rest of the places in which their shares are admitted to trading without the need to multiply the procedures.
The move is intended to comply with EU regulations on transparency in the markets
With the separation of the United Kingdom from the European Union, this operation becomes impossible as the regulatory unit in force until now is lost. For this reason, CCEP has decided, with regard to the practical application of the directive on transparency, that its new compliance center will be Amsterdam, as the company reported yesterday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). The bottling company chaired by Sol Daurella is listed on Euronext Amsterdam, on Wall Street, in the City of London and on the Spanish stock market. The change announced yesterday does not affect in any way its headquarters and operations, which will continue in London, or the trading of its shares in this financial center, at least for now. Communication with the regulator is a fundamental part of the daily life of listed companies. Now, CCEP should have this relationship with the supervisor in Amsterdam for the entire group and London, for investors operating through the City.
CCEP is the second movement of its kind after the still-hot divorce between the UK and the EU. The first, within hours of each other, was that of Berkeley Energia which, in a prior communication to the stock market regulator, indicated that it adopts this decision once the United Kingdom’s transition period has ended on January 1.
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London continues to be a world financial center today and all experts assure that it will continue to be so despite Brexit. In which there is also a certain consensus is that he will lose weight, as has already been the case in recent years as companies flee that prefer to concentrate their decision-making centers on community soil.
Yesterday, in the historic first trading session since Brexit became a reality on January 1, the London Stock Exchange was the best in Europe and closed with a rise of 1.7% on a day with a lot of volatility due to the news about the new confinements and vaccination. The Ibex only gained 0.3% after starting the day with strength and deflating as the hours passed.
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