Celsa’s trial began yesterday in Barcelona marked by attacks by the Catalan steel company against the creditor funds that, through a restructuring plan approved by the judge, want to convert their million-dollar debt into shares, thus seizing the property from the Rubiralta family.
“Celsa has always been a solvent company, except for the covid year, in which it had losses. In addition, the property has a business plan that guarantees the continuity of the group with a transforming vision for ten years. On the other hand, the funds only have a financial plan that does not mention long-term objectives and that is detrimental to the company’s interests,” Xavier Pujol, an independent director of Barna Steel, one of the subsidiaries of the Catalan group, warned yesterday before the judge. . Francesc Mesegué, vice president of the same company, was more severe: “Working with the funds is scary. The debt restructuring plan would plunge the group into uncertainty that could lead to disaster”. In his opinion, the intention of the funds is to sell the shares when they can and divest the business in pieces.
Among the creditors who want to approve the plan are the entities SVP, Deutsche Bank, Sculptor and AIO. Together, these funds control 90% of the 3,500 million debt, a sum that Celsa has been accumulating over the last few years due to the large investments made in the nine countries where it operates. These creditors –among which Kutxabank is not included, which does not agree with the plan– defended yesterday that the approval of this restructuring plan is the only way to resolve the situation after three years of negotiations. “The legal process was the only way forward,” said Gavin Colquhoun of Deutsche Bank. The creditors defended that if they take control of the group, they plan to delegate management to an “independent” board of directors that guarantees the maintenance of the workforce (10,000 workers in Spain), except in senior positions of trust.
In fact, Xavier Pujol was open to giving creditor funds entry into the shareholding if they maintained the current industrial plan. In February, the family already opened up to assigning 49% of the capital to the funds, but the proposal was not convincing. The arrival of aid of 550 million euros from SEPI also depends on the agreement between both parties.