Spain’s Gas Natural moves headquarters out of Catalonia

Spanish utility company Gas Natural said Friday it will move its legal headquarters from Barcelona to Madrid, the latest firm to leave Catalonia after the regional leaders threatened to declare independence.
The energy company said it was making the move because of the “legal uncertainty” provoked by “the social and political events that have taken place in recent weeks in Catalonia.”
The goal is to “maintain the normal functioning of the company in order to protect its interests, those of its customers, employees, creditors and shareholders,” the company said in a statement.
Gas Natural, Spain’s third largest distributor of gas and electricity, said its headquarters would remain in Madrid “as long as this situation persists”.
The announcement comes after the government on Friday passed a decree to allow companies to move their legal headquarters quicker from one region to another.
Several other big companies have announced plans to shift their legal headquarters out of the region after Catalan leaders threatened to declare independence following a banned independence vote.
These include the region’s two biggest banks, Sabadell and Caixabank.
Gas Natural has 23 million customers in over 30 countries, mainly in Latin America.