'Instituto Nacional de Industria' (INI) , literally National Institute of Industry, was a Spanish state-owned financing and industrial holding company, currently succeeded by the 'Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales' (SEPI).
The 'Instituto Nacional de Industria' (INI) was established on 25 September 1941 with a starting capital of fifty million Pesetas, aiming to promote under a secure and active way the development of Spanish industry and the self-sufficiency of the Spanish economy, overrunning the effects of the setback due to the Spanish Civil War by carrying in Spain the model of the 'Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale' (IRI) the state-owned industrial holding company which had been founded eight years earlier in Italy.
Despite its inefficiencies, INI was instrumental in moving the underdeveloped primary-sector-based closed Spain of the 1940s to the booming Spain of the early 1970s, the so-called Spanish miracle. To achieve its goal, INI either financed on its own or directed private funds to the creation of the country's fundamental industries under the spirit of the national interest and autarky. Although its first acts ended up in failure (ADARO etc), INI soon turned itself into the biggest industrial conglomerate of Spain.
INI included a broad range of companies, from heavy and basic industries to "soft" services, most of them with E.N., standing for Empresa Nacional (National Corporation), in their names. Among them were: ENSIDESA (Empresa Nacional Siderúrgica S.A.)-Aceralia (steel), ENASA (Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones S.A.)-Pegaso (trucks), SEAT (Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo) (cars), INH (Instituto Nacional de Hidrocarburos)-REPSOL YPF (Refineria de Petróleos de Escombreras Oil - Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales) (oil and gas), ENCE (Empresa Nacional de Celulosas de España) (cellulose, biofuels),[1] ENDASA (Empresa Nacional de Aluminio S.A.) (aluminium), ENDESA (Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A.) (power), ENFERSA (Empresa Nacional de Fertilizantes S.A.) (fertilizers), EN Calvo Sotelo (petrochemicals), EN Bazán-ASTANO (Astilleros y Talleres del Noroeste)-Navantia (military shipyards), Aesa (non-military shipyards), EN Santa Bárbara (weapons), EN Elcano (merchant shipping line), ATESA (Autotransporte Turístico Español S.A.) (tour operator), ENTURSA (Empresa Nacional de Turismo S.A.) (tourism) and others.
INI also integrated other initially private enterprises or industries - like Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España S.A., CASA (Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A.) and AVIACO (Aviación y Comercio) - and absorbed failed companies in order to service debt, among other purposes. In the mid-to late seventies, HUNOSA (Hulleras del Norte S.A.), a large Asturian coal mining conglomerate, and CTE (Compañía Transatlántica Española) were among the non-functional companies that were integrated into the Instituto Nacional de Industria.[2]
However there were other Spanish official state monopolies -- such as CAMPSA (Compañía Arrendataria del Monopolio de Petróleos S.A.) (gas stations), RENFE (Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles) (railways), Tabacalera (tobacco), or 'Compañía Nacional Telefónica de España' (Telefónica) (telecommunications) -- which were never projects part of INI's administration.
In the 1980s, when Spanish economy fully opened to international trade and joined the European Economic Community, INI lost its reason to exist. Most of its companies were privatized in the 1980s and early 1990s. In this process, ENSIDESA was taken over by Arcelor, SEAT by Volkswagen Group, ENASA by Iveco, Calvo Sotelo by REPSOL, and so on. Others, including ENDESA and Iberia, have kept their independence.
In 1992 INI was entitled to create a new holding company (Sociedad Anónima) over which it would pass all shares owned in every company's capital it had still participated. The new company named TENEO, which was founded on July 4th of the same year, is presently called 'Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales' (SEPI) and has practically disposed the totality of its owned shares with the exception of HUNOSA and a few other industries.