Word: barcelona
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...fight, which began in 1948, is a classic example of the way March has built his financial empire. The holding company of the Catalonian utilities had been The Barcelona Traction, Light & Power Co., Ltd., a Canadian corporation that was in turn controlled by Sofina. Eager to take over the utilities, March persuaded Franco to ban the export of their profits to Barcelona Traction's Canadian headquarters. Cut off from its sources of revenue, Barcelona Traction could not pay the interest on its outstanding bonds, most of which were held outside Spain. They tumbled in value, were quickly snapped...
March then pressured Franco's courts to declare Barcelona Traction bankrupt. Since Barcelona Traction held all of the Catalonian utilities common stock in Canada, the courts ordered "duplicate" shares printed in Spain, auctioned off the counterfeit shares to the highest bidder-who was, of course, Juan March. Control of the multimillion-dollar empire thus passed to March for only $900,000. Sofina, left with a paper corporation, fought the case through the courts, spent more than $3,000,000 on legal fees. Even if Sofina wins a whopping settlement (prospect: $13 million to $16 million) March has a bargain...
...said to have left Barcelona on Dec. 12, passed through Montpellier...
Anthem Unplayed. So far, the church's edging away from Franco is visible more in acts of omission than in commission-in the failure of the Bishop of Barcelona to attend the 20th anniversary of the city's liberation from the Republicans, in the refusal of the abbot to allow the playing of Spain's national anthem at a ceremonial dinner at the famous Basque monastery of Aránzazu (the abbot said the music was not "religious"), or in Pope John's own studied neglect to include a single reference to Franco in the papal...
...Casa de la Vail. Next day the cupboard was bare. Also missing was Ramon Riberaygua, 36, scion of a leading family and secretary of the Council of the Valleys, who on frequent visits to Spain had developed an un-Andorran taste for luxury. He kept a mistress in Barcelona and enjoyed paying big tips at the Hotel Ritz to have himself paged when the dining room was full...