The Internationalisation of Ownership of the Spanish Railway Companies, 1858-1936

Abstract

This article examines the ownership structure and management of the Compania de los Ferrocarriles del Norte de Espana (Norte) and the Madrid to Zaragoza & Alicante Railway Company (MZA), the two most important railway companies in Spain between 1858 and 1941, when the network was nationalised. When the companies were established, the majority of the shareholders were French. From the end of the nineteenth century, Spanish investors had begun to buy equity, and by 1924 Spanish banks could finally exert control over Norte, but the French Rothschild family retained control of MZA. During this period the Spanish state also started to intervene in the railway system and in the leading railway companies.

Wealth in Spain 1900–2017 A Country of Two Lands

“…Investment in the first kind of business was made through Spanish companies. Information provided by Olivares and Ortúñez (2002), Tedde de Lorca (1980) and Cuéllar (2015) for the three major railway companies during this period enables to construct the precise share accruing to foreigners, and then assumed a similar weighting for the other railroad companies. Foreign investment in the mining sector was different as it was mostly channelled through foreign-based companies (i.e.…”