The creditor funds of Grupo Celsa will appoint Rafael Villaseca as president of the company’s board of directors, replacing Francesc Rubiralta, as reported this Tuesday in a statement to Europa Press.
After the approval by the court of the restructuring plan presented by the creditors of the Celsa Group, the company opts for the former CEO of Gas Natural Fenosa to pilot the new stage of Celsa.
With this appointment, “the funds are betting on a recognized figure who is in consensus with the administration” and fulfill the commitment announced in their restructuring plan to put the company in the hands of top-level independent executives with extensive professional experience, they explained. .
Villaseca, an engineer from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and an MBA from IESE, was CEO of Gas Natural Fenosa for thirteen years, from 2005 to 2018, and is the current president of the Naturgy Foundation (formerly Gas Natural Fenosa).
He is also a director of Cementos Molins and VidaCaixa and has been a member of the National Work Promotion Advisory Board.
Villaseca was named CEO of the Year at the Platts Global Energy Awards 2010, the most important awards in the energy sector worldwide.
His career also includes positions as director of Enagás, director-general director of the Panrico Group, CEO of Nueva Montaña Quijano, president of Infrastructure Management, president of the INISEL Group (today INDRA Group), president of the Spanish Energy Club and Member of the Board of Directors of the Círculo de Economía.
The appointment, add the new managers of Celsa, represents “the recognition by the creditors of the strategic nature of the steel company and its importance for the Spanish economy”, as well as their commitment to the objective of guaranteeing financial stability of the company, the maintenance of employment and operations in Spain, as well as its international projection.
The Second Vice President and Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transition, Nadia Calviño, has assured that the Government has the “maximum respect” for the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) that gives ownership of the steel company Celsa to the funds that control its debt, and will execute the resolution without ceasing to watch over the strategic interests of Spain.
This was indicated this Wednesday in Brussels after the TSJC handed down a ruling last Monday agreeing to the approval of the restructuring plan proposed by Celsa’s creditors, so that these will be shareholders of the company to replace the current owners, the Rubiralta family.
In the resolution, the magistrate agreed to approve the restructuring of Celsa, understanding that the procedure meets all the legal requirements, given that the amount of the debt (3,988 million) is much higher than the value of the company (between 2,400 and 2,775 million) and that, with the creditors’ proposal, the viability of the Group is ensured.
“We will see how the instruments we have have to be applied, always keeping in mind the general interest of our country, the protection of jobs and the protection of this important industrial capacity in Spain”, the vice-president asserted.
However, it has also stressed that “as in all other operations” the Government will have in mind “the defense and protection of Spain’s strategic interests”.