Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA, the largest shareholder in Iberdrola SA, suffered a setback in its bid to gain influence on the utility’s board as a court in Bilbao rejected its latest challenge.

ACS had appealed a ruling last year that upheld Iberdrola’s decision to bar a representative from the construction company from its board in 2010, according to court documents e-mailed by Iberdrola. The court threw out the appeal yesterday.

Iberdrola, Spain’s biggest electricity utility, denied a board seat to ACS at its 2010 shareholder meeting, saying ACS’s power-generation assets made it a competitor. A similar appeal relating to the 2011 shareholder meeting was rejected earlier this month.

A spokesman for ACS didn’t respond to a call requesting comment.

--Editors: Amanda Jordan, Todd White

-0- Jan/24/2012 07:32 GMT

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sills in Madrid at bsills@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net -0- Jan/24/2012 07:19 GMT