The Generalitat and the employers’ association Foment del Treball yesterday expressed their support for the industrial project of the Catalan steel mill Celsa, which faces a trial on Monday to decide the future of its property. The judge must decide whether the capital remains under the control of the Rubiralta family or whether it passes into the hands of the creditor funds, which have presented a plan to restructure the debt (of 3.5 billion euros) and convert it into shares .
The litigation is crucial for the future of the group and of the Spanish industry as a whole. Celsa, specialized in steel production, has an annual turnover of more than 6,000 million euros 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 supported the industrial plan of the Rubiralta family in relation to fears that the group will 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 give continuity to 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 Department of Business and Labor supports 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 , of the suppliers and of the workers”, he stated forcefully in a statement.
In the same vein, the employer Foment del Treball demanded that “absolute priority be given to long-term, social and sustainable industrial management criteria, above any economic interest that involves the extraction of value from the company and that put at risk the continuity of Celsa and the loss of jobs”.
Sources from the company yesterday celebrated the position of the institutions and recalled that they have always been in favor of public funding granted by the central government. In this sense, the support of economic agents and governments is not new for the company. A year ago, the Generalitat, Foment del Treball, CC.OO. and the UGT also stood in favor of the company when the creditor funds opposed SEPI’s public rescue plan, which foresees the contribution of 550 million euros to the business.
The situation has been fraught since then, since in the autumn the funds used the bankruptcy reform to approve a restructuring plan that aims to convert the debt into shares despite the opposition of the company’s owners. As a result of the allegations presented during this process, the trial will be held next week to address whether the plan of the creditor funds is approved or not.
