Barcelona Commercial Court No. 2 has ruled in favor of Celsa’s creditors, reinstating ownership from the Rubiralta family. As a result, Celsa will leave the rank of Catalan family-held groups and control will pass to the funds that oversee this collection of Spanish industrial companies. The group employs about 10,000 people and generates roughly 6,000 million euros in annual revenue.
The verdict, announced on Monday, ends a lengthy legal dispute between the Rubiraltas and several creditors, with the government having engaged in multi-million euro bailout discussions. The ruling is final and there are no appeals. Union sources indicated that workers were summoned to meetings at major facilities to review the penalty details and its planned implementation.
Judge Álvaro Lobato Lavín weighed the restructuring proposal presented by mutual funds, which currently manage multiple portfolios and face a debt load of about 2 billion euros.
The Rubiraltas also lost control of their factories as debt mounted, a reflection of ongoing investments required to keep the business profitable. In a modern competitive economy, the market acts as the primary judge of economic viability, and the judge’s sentence underscored this principle as it concluded this Monday.
New bankruptcy law
The new bankruptcy framework enabled the various funds that lent to the Rubiraltas to recover a substantial portion of the debt through equity in the company. The updated regulations permit creditors to claim ownership when the company’s liabilities exceed its value. The Rubiralta camp argued during the trial that the business would collapse if control shifted to creditors, a position the judge ultimately did not accept.
The judge found that the restructuring plan backed by Senior Vice President Global, Deutsche Bank, Sculptor, and Anchorage satisfied the law’s requirements and kept Grupo Celsa afloat, a stance that Rubiralta and some unions questioned during the hearing. He rejected the notion that creditors were forming a coalition of opportunistic or “vulture” funds aiming to nationalize Grupo Celsa’s shareholders, noting that such accusations did not offer a sufficient explanation for the case at hand.
The magistrate ruled in favor of the creditor funds while stressing that Celsa must stay aligned with commitments to preserve the company’s strategic value in Spain. This means protecting jobs, maintaining production, and ensuring that key decision-making centers remain intact to support the broader economy.
Since funds had already received advances prior to the hearing, held from July 3 to July 11, they sought to appoint a manager. Following the penalty decision, a new board of directors will take the helm, replacing the Rubiraltas and guiding the company forward.
Creditor groups named for potential roles included Rathmines, Deutsche Bank London Branch, International Kapitalanlagegesellschaft MBH, SDF 2, Cross Ocean USD ESS II, Sarl, Cross Ocean AGG II, Sarl, Sculptor Investments, Trinity Investments, Goldentree, BV, and AIO VII. The process aims to ensure a stable transition that preserves the business’s value and employment while aligning with the court’s instructions and market realities.