The largest manufacturer of paper and cardboard in Spain, Saica, was born 80 years ago, in times of need and autarky, when scarcity forced straw to find new uses for a very abundant waste in Zaragoza. “My grandfather, along with his mother, his brother, his brother-in-law and his mother-in-law, went to the notary to establish the company, and then another brother and a cousin joined,” explains the president of the company, Ramon Alexander. A total of seven were the founders of the company, which several decades later became a European leader in cardboard production, with more than 4,000 million euros in annual turnover and management transferred without family conflicts to the third generation.
Saica was born from straw and ended up “by chance” dedicated to paper. During World War II, Alejandro explains, the borders with France were closed and there was no way to import cotton, so the founder, Raimundo Balet, tried to produce textile fibers with straw. What came out was a paste that was useless as a tissue, but acceptable as a paper. Brown paper was born, which for many years was used to wrap fish. Subsequently, as a result of a commission from a businessman from Valencia, they switched to cardboard, the product that now, in the 21st century, is best suited to electronic commerce and is most successful in replacing plastic as a recyclable solution.
Saica is today a group with more than 10,000 employees and a presence in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Turkey, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United States and Poland. By billing volume it can be among the 30 largest companies in Spain. Its investment plans are not anecdotal: 2,285 million euros in ten years, with the aspiration of raising its positions in Europe.
The plans for the continent are for growth, both organic and through acquisitions. The company is expanding its capacity in France and Scotland, and has bought a recovered paper plant in Poland that could be used to supply material to a future mill in the area, possibly in Germany. In the United States, a plant opened in January of last year. “Our growth in cardboard has almost always been through acquisitions, and we are always attentive to possible operations”, affirms the president of the company.
The raw material of this particular empire is the paper and cardboard itself. Between 80% and 90% is recycled, so you don’t have to look for it in a mine or an oil well. Electronic commerce and consumer habits continuously demand cardboard that is later reused. “We have opted for a vertical model”, with a presence in collection, recycling and production, says Alejandro to explain the keys to success.
Another success factor is the generational change, in which the grandchildren took the reins in 2010. “Family businesses have a very high mortality rate from the second to the third generation,” explains the president of Saica. One of the keys is that, in the eighties, the company was one of the first of family origin to establish a protocol to anticipate eventualities and make all the details clear, from the distribution of dividends to the sale of shares or the incorporation of relatives to the staff. “It’s pretty common now, but back then it wasn’t.”
The company president has learned two things from these familiar protocols. The first: “You have to do it when you don’t need it because if you’re late it may seem like you’re doing it for your own interest.” The second: “Each protocol is unique and unrepeatable, it is not the same for all family businesses.”
Saica already has 95 shareholders linked to the family and is always asked the same thing: is it going to go public? “There may be two reasons to start trading: that you have a planned expansion and you do not have sufficient resources, or that a relevant part of the capital wanted to leave the company. At the moment neither of these two options is considered.
