The Generalitat and the employers’ association Foment del Treball yesterday expressed their support for the industrial project of the Catalan steelworks Celsa, which is facing a trial on Monday to settle the future of its property. The judge must decide if the capital remains under the control of the Rubiralta family or if it passes into the hands of the creditor funds, which have presented a plan to restructure the debt (of 3,500 million euros) and convert it into shares.
The litigation is crucial for the future of the group and the whole of the Spanish industry. Celsa, specialized in the production of steel, invoices more than 6,000 million euros a year and employs around 30,000 people directly and indirectly throughout the country. In fact, the governments of the Basque Country and Cantabria – where the company has production plants – yesterday also supported the industrial plan of the Rubiralta family due to fears that the group could pass into the hands of foreign companies. Recently, the unions UGT and CC.OO. They also expressed their support for the plan of the founding family, which wants to continue the business under the strategic vision that has characterized it since 1967.
At the gates of the trial, which begins on Monday and will last until July 11, Celsa has the widespread support of the country’s administrations and economic agents. “The Business and Work Department gives its support to the group’s current industrial project and, at the same time, shows its involvement in its defense against any threat that wants to impose criteria that extract industrial value and to the detriment of the entire value chain, suppliers and its workers”, he affirmed forcefully in a statement.
Along the same lines, the employers’ association Foment del Treball demanded that “absolute priority be given to long-term, social and sustainable industrial management criteria, above any economic interest that implies the extraction of value from the company and that puts risk the continuity of Celsa and the loss of jobs”.
Company sources celebrated yesterday the positioning of the institutions and recalled that Celsa has always been in favor of public financing from the Government. In this sense, the support of economic agents and governments is not something new for the company. A year ago, Generalitat, Foment del Treball, CC.OO. and UGT also positioned themselves in favor of the company when the creditor funds opposed SEPI’s public rescue plan, which contemplates the contribution of 550 million euros to the business.
The situation has remained entrenched ever since, as in the fall the funds used the bankruptcy reform to pass a restructuring plan that seeks to convert debt into equity despite opposition from the company’s owners. Given the allegations presented during this process, the trial will be held next week to address whether or not the fund plan is approved.
