Celsa workers accuse the funds of “robbing” the steel company by selling its plants abroad.

Unions CCOO And UGT this Thursday published a statement accusing the current leadership of Selsa begin “programmed looting“assets steel giant. Representatives of the workers, of whom there are about 10,000 in all, say that the new owners of the corporation, until recently controlled RubiraltaThe founding family plans to sell the company’s assets abroad, in particular, factories in Poland, Norway And Great Britain.

Celsa management sources confirm they have hired a consulting firm City conduct an “assessment of the Group’s foreign subsidiaries.” Although they clarify that the final decision has not yet been made. “This decision responds to the company’s desire to deepen the knowledge and alternatives offered by its international divisions. This is an exploratory exercise and at no time has any specific decision been made,” management states.

In September 2023, a judge made a groundbreaking decision based on the new bankruptcy law and awarded Celsa’s assets to its creditors’ funds. Before this, the steel giant, the largest steel producer in all of Europe and with an annual turnover 6 billion euros, belonged to one of the branches of the Rubiralta family. It was the largest Catalan family business run by Francesc Rubiralta. The problem they faced was that their business strategy in recent years was based on reducing debt levels, to the point of exceeding liabilities by more than 2.8 billion euros.

By virtue of some of this debt and taking advantage of the new bankruptcy law, some of the creditors’ funds exercised an option to exchange the amount of said debt for shares of the company. Last September, a judge ruled that the resulting debt exceeded the value of the company, and the funds were able to seize ownership of Celsa from Rubiraltas.

The transfer of funds to management was not favorable to workers, who already distrusted them due to their potential interest in maximizing the profitability of newly acquired assets and prioritizing their own benefit over the stability and prosperity of the group. The conflict with the organization of work shifts caused the employees to go on strike to management, and this Thursday they went even further and accused the owners of wanting to rob the company.

“We ask the Ministry (of Industry) and the Government to clearly prohibit the planned sales and to consider the rapid entry into the market of a Spanish steel industrial partner that is involved in the development of the group’s industrial plan,” the plants said in their joint statement.

And one of the conditions that the government set for foreign funds not to veto the operation was to “guarantee the future viability of the company, as well as the integrity of its business units, the preservation of all jobs, the continuity of the registered office.” in Spain and the introduction of modern, independent and professional corporate governance.” That is, they could not begin to split up the group’s assets in order to sell them, thereby withdrawing money and returning some or all of the amount they had contributed to the debt.