1987 - Year of the shrinking market?
Telefonica, the most widely traded stock on the Madrid Stock Exchange, with a fifth of all daily transactions, needs an international investor base to feed its $7 billion four-year investment programme.
As the first part of a plan to extend the telecommunications network throughout Spain, it is investing $47.2 million in a research centre outside Madrid.
It has also set up a subsidiary in the US to market a switching system, one of its rare in-house products.
Early this year the company raised a 10-year facility for $250 million in the Euromarket, with the help of American, Japanese and European banks.
The company is already listed on the stock exchanges of London, Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo. Next year it may be quoted in New York. Javier Monzon, Telefonica's deputy general manager of finance, said: "The details are still under discussion, but it is probable that we'll arrange a rights issue to coincide with our New York listing.'
Between 15% and 17% (about $3 million) of Telefonica's requirements for 1987 will be covered by new capital. The company itself will be able to generate 70% of its needs internally.