The businessman and banker Demetrio Carceller Coll died yesterday, Friday, in Galapagar (Madrid) at the age of 93. He was the son of Demetrio Carceller Segura, Minister of Industry (1940-1945) and promoter of Campsa and co-founder of Cepsa and DISA.
Carceller Coll promoted the DISA Group, the first Canarian company for the distribution of energy products and the first independent operator of service stations nationwide under the Shell banner. He was the first shareholder of the Damm brewery, with sector leadership throughout the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands. He was also president of the Transatlantic Commercial Bank, known as Bancotrans and which Carceller Coll positioned as a business bank, serving the Catalan economy of the time.
He always considered himself a banker, it was his main activity to which he was linked from 1965 until the sale of Bancotrans in 1989 to Deutsche Bank. He was a director of various companies, including Sevillana de Electricidad where he highlighted his refusal to support the sale of the electricity company to the Endesa Group.
He lived between Spain and Portugal for most of his life where he developed real estate, agricultural and livestock businesses. In the international arena he created a network of shopping centers in the United States. Precisely, he declared not to be a resident in Spain but in reality he lived on the outskirts of Madrid (Galapagar) and frequented restaurants or entertainment venues for which he paid in cash.
In 2016, Carceller Coll was sentenced to prison for 13 crimes against the public treasury, and also his son, Demetrio Carceller Arce, for four, but the agreement reached by the Carcellers and the National Court Prosecutor’s Office allowed them to avoid prison. and avoid the bench and the photo in the trial with the payment of more than 90 million euros.
Married for more than 66 years to María del Carmen Arce, who died just 12 days earlier, he was the father of five children, some of whom continue the family business saga.
Led by Demetrio Carceller Arce, they have continued to develop and consolidate family businesses. His son, Demetrio, Carceller Arce is president of DISA, Damm and vice president of Ebro Foods and Sacyr.