Enagás, Sabadell and the ICO restructure the ship business in Tenerife
The corporate structure managing the interests of the Puerto de Aguadulce project company has completed an in-depth legal and corporate reorganization aimed at transforming its business model. The entity, registered in the Mercantile Registry of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, has formalised its legal conversion from an Economic Interest Grouping (AIE) into a Private Limited Company (SL), under the new name Puerto de Aguadulce. The move is accompanied by a renewal of its board of directors, in which energy and institutional sector giants such as Enagás, the Official Credit Institute (ICO) and Banco Sabadell consolidate their control to redirect the firm’s corporate purpose toward the acquisition, financing and operation of merchant vessels.
The conversion into a private limited company, formalised on June 25, 2026, marks the end of the AIE tax structure, which is commonly used in Spain to channel tax deductions and finance specific assets or large-scale infrastructure. With the adoption of new bylaws, tailored to the consolidated text of the Capital Companies Act of 2010, the company drastically changes the scope of its business. From now on, its main activity will focus on buying merchant vessels, arranging financing for the construction of new ships, and their subsequent leasing or economic operation under any form that ensures full control over naval assets.
Enagás takes the lead at the board
The new corporate phase places the subsidiary Enagás Financiaciones SAU in the chair of the administration body of Puerto de Aguadulce SL, strengthening the gas multinational’s role in taking strategic decisions for the project. The Official Credit Institute (ICO), a public business entity attached to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, takes on the vice-presidency, while Bansabadell Inversió Desenvolupament SA, the investment arm of Banco Sabadell, retains a key position as a director within the new limited-responsibility structure.
The reshaping of the top leadership has led to the removal and subsequent technical appointment of the physical representatives of these corporations on the board of directors. The executive machinery of the company once again includes the key names that have overseen the entity in its earlier phases. Óscar Lara López and Gonzalo Dionisio María Arredondo maintain their representation roles for the board member firms, while David San Frutos Tomé continues to exercise technical representation on the board. The non-director secretary remains under the direction of Begoña Lorenzo Sánchez, backed by Candelaria Isabel Pérez Gil in the non-director vice-secretary position at the Canary Islands company.
The strategic shift toward maritime transport
The entry of Enagás and its financial partners into the ownership and operation business for merchant vessels coincides with growing needs for maritime transport of clean fuels and the need to secure the logistics supply chain. The design of the new private limited company enables Puerto de Aguadulce SL to act as a financial and operational vehicle when acquiring a fleet, avoiding the rigidities imposed by the previous economic interest grouping structure.
The adaptation of the bylaws sets May 27 as the closing date of the company’s financial year for the new firm—an administrative adjustment that marks the start of its new tax calendar. By moving away from the AIE formula, which is geared toward tax transparency to transfer taxable bases to its partners, the private limited company will operate as an independent actor in the market for naval financial engineering. This strategic change gives the Tenerife-based entity the legal capacity to negotiate long-term chartering contracts with global operators and to intervene directly in shipyards to contract new shipbuilding, a sector with high demand amid the renewal process of the international merchant fleet.
The article Enagás, Sabadell and the ICO restructure the ship business in Tenerife was first published by encanarymaritime.com.
