Criteria Caixa

Criteria Caixa is a Spanish, unlisted investment-holding company and the exclusive, independent vehicle for managing the assets of Fundación ”la Caixa”. The two organisations form part of Grupo ”la Caixa”: the foundation pursues social-purpose programmes, while Criteria Caixa manages an investment portfolio intended both to support that work and to preserve and grow the foundation’s assets. The company says its objectives are to generate resources for the foundation’s annual budget and to increase the value of the assets under management through active portfolio management. Its portfolio combines significant equity stakes in companies across strategic sectors with alternative investments. The company describes its approach as focused on recurring returns, sustainable and responsible investment, and prudent financial and risk policies. Publicly identified holdings include CaixaBank, Naturgy, Telefónica, ACS, Veolia, Grupo Financiero Inbursa, Bank of East Asia, Inmobiliaria Colonial, Interparking, and Grupo Agbar. These investments make Criteria Caixa an asset manager and shareholder rather than a consumer-facing product or retail brand. Criteria Caixa’s role is closely connected to the social mission of Fundación ”la Caixa”. The foundation reports that dividends from Criteria Caixa are reinvested in programmes intended to improve people’s lives, including support for vulnerable groups and work in social transformation, research, and culture. The company’s stated long-term investment mandate is therefore both financial and institutional: to maintain the foundation’s resources while providing funds for its yearly activity. The company was created as Criteria CaixaHolding during the 2011 restructuring of the La Caixa group, separate from the earlier listed investment vehicle Criteria CaixaCorp, which became CaixaBank. It became the channel through which the foundation held its CaixaBank stake following the foundation’s establishment in 2014, and adopted the name Criteria Caixa in 2015. After its registered office was moved to Palma de Mallorca in 2017, the company agreed in March 2025 to restore it to Barcelona. Criteria Caixa remains an unlisted company wholly owned by Fundación ”la Caixa”.

Criteria Caixa emerged from a restructuring of the La Caixa group in 2011. Before its creation, the group had a listed investment holding company called Criteria CaixaCorp. In the restructuring, Criteria CaixaCorp absorbed the banking business of MicroBank, became a bank, and subsequently changed its name to CaixaBank. The group created a separate investment subsidiary, initially named Criteria CaixaHolding, to hold investment and property assets apart from the newly constituted bank. The historical account supplied for this dossier says that certain holdings, including stakes in Telefónica, Repsol, and international banking, remained with CaixaBank at that stage. A further institutional change followed in 2014, when La Caixa approved its transformation into a banking foundation. Fundación ”la Caixa” was constituted on 17 June 2014. The foundation’s CaixaBank holding was transferred to Criteria CaixaHolding, making the subsidiary the channel through which the foundation held its bank investment. The transfer of the CaixaBank stake took place on 14 October 2014. In November 2015, Criteria Caixa Holding, S.A.U. changed its corporate name to Criteria Caixa, S.A.U. In December of that year, CaixaBank agreed to transfer to Criteria Caixa its stakes in The Bank of East Asia and Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Inbursa. The transaction closed on 31 May 2016; the accompanying account reports that Criteria Caixa’s CaixaBank stake then fell to 46.9%. In February 2017, the company placed a portion of its CaixaBank shares with institutional and qualified investors, taking its holding to 40%, according to the supplied history. In September 2017, the European Central Bank determined that Criteria Caixa no longer exercised control or dominant influence over CaixaBank and was no longer its parent for supervisory purposes. The account links this assessment to reductions in Criteria Caixa’s economic and voting rights and to changes in its representation on CaixaBank’s board. In October 2017, amid the political situation in Catalonia, the company moved its registered office to Palma de Mallorca. CaixaBank’s absorption of Bankia in March 2021 changed the relative size of the foundation’s indirect holding; the supplied account states that Criteria Caixa and, through it, Fundación ”la Caixa” then held approximately 30% of CaixaBank. In March 2025, Criteria Caixa agreed to restore its registered office to Barcelona. Today the company describes itself as the independent and exclusive manager of Fundación ”la Caixa”’s assets. Its stated mandate is to produce resources for the foundation’s annual budget while growing managed assets through active portfolio management. It presents its investment approach as focused on recurring returns, sustainability, responsibility, and prudent financial and risk policies. The foundation is identified as its sole shareholder.

• Criteria CaixaHolding established during group restructuring

• Fundación ”la Caixa” constituted

• CaixaBank stake transferred to Criteria CaixaHolding

• Company renamed Criteria Caixa

• Agreement to acquire stakes in BEA and Inbursa

• BEA and Inbursa transaction closed

• CaixaBank share placement reduced holding to 40%

• ECB determined Criteria Caixa was no longer CaixaBank’s parent for supervisory purposes

• Registered office moved to Palma de Mallorca

• CaixaBank absorbed Bankia

• Agreed to restore registered office to Barcelona

An unlisted, wholly owned investment holding company serving as the exclusive asset-management vehicle of Fundación ”la Caixa”, with a long-term mandate to grow and preserve its assets and generate resources for the foundation’s social work.

• Investment portfolio management

  Active management of the assets held for Fundación ”la Caixa”, including equity stakes and alternative investments.

• Strategic corporate shareholdings

  Equity positions in companies across strategic sectors, including publicly identified holdings such as CaixaBank, Naturgy, Telefónica, and Veolia.

• Reduced CaixaBank stake and political and economic rightsOther

• Return of registered office to BarcelonaOther

1. 1CriteriaCaixa | Inversionescriteriacaixa.com
2. 2Quiénes somos | CriteriaCaixacriteriacaixa.com
3. 3Criteria Caixawikidata.org
4. 4Criteria Caixaes.wikipedia.org