- The Madrid Region has established itself as the main hub for the entry and development of Argentine investment in Spain and Europe, concentrating both flows, employment, and investment stock.
- Our region has received €1.972 billion in gross productive investment from Argentina since 1993, representing 68% of its investment in Spain.
- Argentine companies maintain 1,731 direct jobs in Spain, 84% of them in Madrid.
In this context, Invest in Madrid hosted a meeting on Argentine investment in the Madrid Region, where key data such as the above were discussed, highlighting our region as an attractive destination for foreign investment.
Key figures
FDI flows from Argentina into Madrid
Since 2013, fDi Markets has recorded 677 cross-border greenfield investment projects from Argentina, with associated investment totaling $21.087 billion (an average of $31 million per project and 31 projects per year). Of the 67 projects directed toward European countries, 50 have landed in Spain. Spain is the second destination for Argentine greenfield projects abroad, after Brazil (56).
68% of Argentine investment flows into Spain—€1.972 billion—have gone to the Madrid Region.
Argentine companies have been active in using ETVEs (holding companies) in Spain. Since 1993, €2.525 billion in Argentine ETVE investment has been recorded, representing 47% of the total volume, a large share of which (€1.793 billion, 71%) is located in Madrid.
Employment
Argentina ranks 37th among countries generating local employment in Spain, accounting for 0.1% of the total.
The Madrid Region is the region with the highest concentration of this employment in Spain (84% of the total, 1,457 jobs), ahead of the Valencian Community (145) and Catalonia (83).
Argentina holds a similar position in Madrid in terms of employment (25th) as it does in investment flows among the main investing countries.
Investment position
Argentina’s investment stock in Spain reached €10.058 billion in the latest year for which data are available (2023), following a 3.6% increase that year—an all-time high, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
With 1.7% of total stock, Argentina ranks as the 15th largest investor in Spain in stock terms, and the second-largest Latin American investor after Mexico. It ranks 12th in the Madrid Region. Madrid concentrates 93.8% of Argentina’s investment stock in Spain.
Greenfield investment projects and M&A
Since 2013, Orbis Crossborder Investment has recorded 50 announcements of Argentine greenfield investment projects in Spain, representing €446 million in investment and the creation of 1,698 local jobs.
The Madrid Region (16 projects) and Catalonia (15) have been the main destinations in Spain.
Argentina has been the 30th largest investor in Spain since 2013 in terms of number of greenfield projects.
The same source identifies eleven acquisitions of Spanish companies by Argentine capital since 2013, with a total value exceeding €470 million. The Community of Madrid was home to 7 of the acquired companies (all those with disclosed values).
Subsidiaries
Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE), in its statistics on foreign affiliates, does not provide disaggregated information on Argentine subsidiaries in Spain.
Private sources such as SABI/INFORMA estimate that there are 71 companies in Spain controlled by Argentine capital (companies with an Argentine global ultimate owner or with a direct shareholder holding at least a 10% Argentine stake).
Of these, 34 are headquartered in the Madrid Region (48%), the vast majority of them (25 companies) in the city of Madrid.