Cuatrecasas opens call for fifth edition of the Manuel Olivencia Award for Good Corporate Governance

Cuatrecasas opens the call for the fifth edition of the Manuel Olivencia Award for Good Corporate Governance. The award recognizes the work of those listed Spanish companies that stand out for their exemplary corporate management and transparency when generating value in a sustainable manner. The initiative, born in 2018 to offer a reference framework in good governance, honors the memory of renowned lawyer Manuel Olivencia, vice president of the firm and chair of the committee that drafted the first Spanish Code of Corporate Governance in 1998.

Cuatrecasas will have the support of a full team of external consultants to select the listed companies that best meet their evaluation criteria and review those that apply voluntarily, provided they meet the requirements listed on the rules of the call for applications. Then, the jury will review the best practices in governance, their significance in the company’s decision-making process and as a reference model, as well as their influence on third parties. This new edition will also focus particularly on evaluating aspects in relation to the board of directors’ competencies matrix and the assessment and selection of its members as key elements to ensure diversity and fulfillment of the supervision and control duties of the management body.

The period to apply and submit the required documentation will be open from June 5 at 9:00 until July 19 at 17:00. The information must be sent to the award director, José Luis Rodríguez Jiménez, by

Cuatrecasas

Calle Almagro, 9

28010, Madrid

Att: joseluis.rodriguez@cuatrecasas.com

Cc: elena.garciamartin@cuatrecasas.com

The final decision with the name of the winning company in this fifth edition will be announced at a public event that will take place in the second half of November and will bring together some of the main representatives of the business world and the Law at national level. It is a unique opportunity to find out how the Spanish market is evolving in good governance matters, while preserving the legacy of Manuel Olivencia. 

The panel, made up of ten highly regarded independent experts from Spain’s business and legal world, is chaired by Matías Rodríguez Inciarte, who also chairs Santander Universities and Sanitas health insurance company. He holds a Bachelor of Economics by the Universidad Complutense and is a member of the Spanish State Economists and Trade Experts.

The members of the panel are Juan Arena, former chair of Bankinter and member of the board of Meliá Hotels International; María Benjumea, founder and CEO of Spain Startup; Eva Castillo, former chair of Telefónica Europa and Merrill Lynch Spain and Portugal, and member of the boards of CaixaBank, IAG and Zardoya Otis; Óscar Fanjul, vice chair of Ferrovial; Rosa María García, independent member of the board of Mapfre; Cristina Garmendia, chair of the Cotec Foundation; Ignacio Gil-Casares, external proprietary director of Merlin Properties and member of the appointments and remuneration committees; Luis Isasi, chair of Santander Spain and senior advisor at Morgan Stanley; Francisco Pérez-Crespo Payá, partner at Cuatrecasas; and Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, partner at Cuatrecasas and former deputy prime minister of Spain. In addition, Rafael Hidalgo, counsel at Cuatrecasas, serves as non-member secretary; José Luis Rodríguez, partner at Cuatrecasas, is the award’s director; and Macarena Olivencia, counsel at Cuatrecasas, is honorary chair.

In only four editions, the award has become a benchmark for recognizing corporate governance best practices by listed companies in Spain. The Manuel Olivencia Award for Good Corporate Governance was awarded to the International Airlines Group (IAG) in 2018, Amadeus IT Group in 2019, Inditex in 2020 and Repsol in 2022.

In every edition, the panel of judges has highlighted the members of their boards of directors, which have an ample majority of independent directors, including their chairs. The panel has also valued their investor relation policies, the duration of the directors’ term of office, the selection of and training policies for the directors, and transparency in remuneration matters. In 2020, the panel specially valued aspects related to good governance during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manuel Olivencia was an accomplished lawyer who combined his vocation for teaching from his chair of commercial law with the desire to share knowledge from his professional work at Cuatrecasas as a partner of the firm. His impressive professional curriculum as a lawyer, university professor, undersecretary of education, commissioner of the Expo 92 in Seville and chair of the committee that drafted the Olivencia Code, is supplemented by his personal trajectory and the indelible memories he left in his family, friends, students, colleagues and everyone who knew him. 

As a true cosmopolite who studied and lived in different countries, he received many acknowledgments throughout his life, both in Spain and abroad. Among his many awards, Olivencia received several Spanish Grand Crosses—the Civil Order of Alfonso X “the Wise,” the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic, the Cross of Military Merit, the Cross of Saint Raymond of Penyafort, and the Cross of St. George of Catalonia. He was named Favorite Son of Ronda and Adopted Son of Seville, and received the Gold Medal of Ceuta, where he spent part of his childhood.