A prolonged conflict stretched over more than a decade, pitting six heirs against one another while fortunes were at stake. The saga centers on the Álvarez family, descendants of David Álvarez, the founder of Eulen, and it threads through the family’s control of El Enebro, the vehicle that gathers their assets. At stake in recent litigation is a 2013 share sale between Eulen and El Enebro, a move that has drawn in Eulen’s current president, María José Álvarez, and five of her siblings, Marta, Elvira, Juan Carlos, Emilio and Pablo Álvarez Mezquiriz. The family also holds sway over Vega Sicilia, the renowned winery where El Enebro stands as its largest shareholder.
In April, the Madrid Provincial Court ruled against the elder leader of Eulen, finding that he had voided the sale of his brothers’ shares. The case involved 152,000 shares transferred from Eulen to El Enebro, a transaction he characterized as hollowing out the family legacy. The siblings have appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, and the family dispute endures after nine years in the courts.
Pandora’s box opened in 2010, widening the strains within Álvarez’s business network. After David Álvarez remarried in 2009, the founder granted his children control of El Enebro, the holding company created to consolidate the family’s assets. The initial arrangement allocated 51 percent to the heirs and 49 percent to David Álvarez’s control through his wife and other relatives. Yet the plan did not unfold as expected. Despite his advancing years, David Álvarez sought to return to work, a move that provoked opposition from five children—Marta, Elvira, Juan Carlos, Emilio and Pablo Álvarez Mezquiriz—and led to the removal of the patriarch and his loyal granddaughter María José and her brother Jesús David from the company. The Supreme Court later overturned that action in 2018.
second round
The conflict resurfaced in 2013. At that time, David Álvarez held 3.52 percent of El Enebro, while each of his seven children owned 13.38 percent. With treasury shares added, control hovered around 93.68 percent. In one company meeting, Juan Carlos Álvarez Mezquiriz claimed that María José and her father were considering exiting Eulen after acquiring the stake of another sibling, Jesús David Álvarez. After María José Álvarez’s father died in 2015, the two of them wielded 57.56 percent of El Enebro’s shares.
Fearing the loss of influence over the family enterprise, Marta, Elvira, Juan Carlos, Emilio and Pablo chose to monetize their holdings by selling Eulen shares to El Enebro. Their aim was to consolidate majority control within El Enebro and challenge the parent family leadership. This maneuver temporarily placed Vega Sicilia under the consolidation of the rebel faction. The elder head of Eulen faced the consequences in court as his siblings pursued legal remedies through both criminal and civil channels. María José Álvarez initially pursued charges through criminal avenues; after her dismissal, she sought recourse in Madrid’s Commercial Courts, where the proceedings swung first against her, then in her favor on a subsequent ruling.
The arguments presented by Eulen’s president framed the dispute as a betrayal of the company’s interests by siblings prioritizing private gains over corporate welfare. The court’s decision emphasized that the purchase of large share blocks from Eulen by El Enebro did not align with Eulen’s social interest once the transaction was conceived. The ruling voided the transfers involving five of the heirs and reiterated that El Enebro’s involvement did not demonstrate independent business purpose; rather, it reflected private interests of the directors.
Madrid’s county court noted that the five brothers placed personal goals above the company’s welfare, approving a deal that did not benefit Eulen and cost the firm unnecessary expenses. The fixed price of 530 euros per share was criticized for lacking sufficient evidence that it reflected the true market value.
Legal work continues as the court requires a reversal of the contracts, compelling El Enebro to return the shares to Eulen and to disgorge any dividends collected during the period of ownership. Presently, those shares are held by Mezqual Ibérica, a vehicle in which the five brothers remain invested. Even after the appeal, the sentence has yet to be executed, leaving the family’s rift to be resolved by the courts once again, seven years after the death of the family patriarch, David Álvarez.