At the rein in Spain they are mainly on the plane

As little as five years ago, the global ambitions of Spanish companies rarely extended beyond Latin America. Now scarcely a week passes without a Spanish group jetting off to announce a big investment initiative in the US, continental Europe or the UK. The April 2006 takeover bid by Ferrovial, Spain's second largest construction group, for BAA, the UK airports operator, is just the latest in a series of bold cross-border raids that are driving the sudden and dramatic internationalisation of Spanish business. Major analysis feature.