The Administrative Litigation Chamber has begun to analyze the complaint filed by the family group of the Ortigüela brothers to launch 30 VTC licenses, which could be operated by Uber or by Cabify, in the south of Gran Canaria, which It is the profitable market for this type of business. The Minister of Transport of Gran Canaria, Teodoro Sosa (NC), is closed and does not want a single VTC license because it can damage the family business environment by generating price tensions as is already happening between the hotel sector and Airbnb or Booking .
The Ortigüela brothers are practically unknown, but over the years they amassed a fortune. They became the kings of VTC licenses with Ares Capital, the company that has requested the Gran Canaria licenses ultimately dependent on the King Street hedge fund, reports the newspaper 'La Información'.
Ares Capital is part of an entire corporate network after the sale in the first months of 2018. At that time it was a fund, King Street Capital, which entered the scene in the purchase of all these assets - almost 4.000 licenses between those granted and those requested before the courts. But he is not the only shareholder (nor the only ones who appear on the board of directors). On the complete list is Jaime Castellanos, or Pedro del Corro García-Lomas, general director of Torreal and right-hand man of Juan Abelló.
The Department of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands has asked the VTCs not to mess up the regulatory framework of the islands because they will always take longer and also on each island the European standard is exceptional as happened with Lidl, which It took 10 years to begin operating on the islands because on the Peninsula they are unaware of the power that the councils have, confusing them with councils. Thus, Transport has given the option for them to buy concessions where they are for sale but that is a nonsense because: why does a VTC operator want a license in Agaete?
Since last summer, the island councils have had a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling that limiting the licenses for transport vehicles with drivers (VTC) in the metropolitan area of Barcelona violates European legislation, does not affect the island territory and therefore Therefore, the provisions of the Canary Islands Road Transport Management Law must continue to apply, which establishes a limitation of one VTC license for every 30 taxis.
The General Directorate of Transport of the Government of the Canary Islands has sent this coordination letter to the councils, which are the ones that hold the powers in land transport, to make it clear that the European ruling on VTC in Barcelona does not open the possibility of changes in the regulations that govern the autonomous community.
According to the letter addressed to the councils, the aforementioned ruling establishes that the VTC quota or quota cannot be established based on economic criteria, therefore, the general management considers that the Canary Islands are not affected by it. based on article 4 of the Canary Islands Road Transport Regulation Law. This article states that this proportionality of VTCs on the islands is due to the objective of achieving maximum quality and safety in the provision of road transport activity and reducing its environmental impact and cost. Therefore, its application on the islands does not obey only economic criteria, as has happened in the case of Barcelona.
"Our quota is based on the need to regulate transportation in island territory based on insularity and the characterization of being an outermost region and is not due to economic aspects as is the case of said ruling on the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, adjusting in the case of the Canary Islands, to protect the territory and to organize transportation,” states the letter sent by the general direction to the councils.
For these arguments, it is concluded that the Canary Islands are not affected by said ruling and therefore the provisions of article 79 of Law 13/2007, of May 17, on the Regulation of Road Transport in the Canary Islands, must continue to apply, which establishes the proportionality of the authorizations. These articles establish that the island councils will deny authorizations if a situation of imbalance occurs between the offer of discretionary interurban public transport for travelers (taxis) and rental with driver (VTC), and that said imbalance will occur when, on each island , the relationship between both types of transport is greater than one VTC for every 30 taxis.
The framework begins in Spain. Ares Capital 'hangs' from a company called Siargao Directorship, which has a practically identical board of directors and which is also the owner of Moove Cars, the manager of the entire fleet, both of Ares and the rest of the companies acquired at this time, and in which Jon Riberas, co-owner of Gestamp, is also an investor. Siargao, in turn, depends on another company called Garment Investment SL which, in the end, has one owner: Stone Peak Plum, based in Luxembourg, whose 100% depends on another firm in the Virgin Islands.
The sale to the group of investors led by the King Street hedge fund was a three-way sale. Uber, the American transportation giant, also played a prominent role, promoting the agreement with the aim of achieving a long-term partner for the Spanish market. In this way, the company secured up to 4.000 licenses to operate on its platform and much more stability. For the first time, Ares Capital reveals what it invoiced from the North American company, for which it works exclusively: 15,9 of the 18,5 million euros received from transport services during 2018.
