The Spanish government and the creditors of Celsa Group have agreed conditions for the takeover of the steelmaker, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — The Spanish government and the creditors of Celsa Group have agreed conditions for the takeover of the steelmaker, according to people familiar with the matter.
Creditors including Strategic Value Partners and Sculptor Capital Management will file a foreign direct investment application this week to take effective control of the company, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private information. The process could take up to three months to complete, they said.
The agreement follows a decision a month ago by a commercial court in Barcelona to approve the creditors’ plan to take over the company from the Rubiralta family, which stopped paying its debts three years ago. Spokespeople for the Spanish Prime Minister’s office and the group of creditors declined to comment.
The group, also including Anchorage Capital Group, Attestor Capital, Cross Ocean Partners, Deutsche Bank AG and GoldenTree Asset Management, has been in discussions with the Spanish and Catalan governments plus workers’ unions over reassurances they won’t relocate the business, cut jobs or scale down capacity. Celsa is one of the largest employers in the region.
Creditors agreed on restrictions to the closures of sites and collective redundancies in coming years. The group has also committed within six months of taking control to start a process of selling a stake of up to 20% to an industrial party with a presence in Spain. The completion of the sale will depend on a bid offering fair market value, some of the people said.
Firms including Sidenor Aceros Especiales and CL Grupo Industrial have shown interest in the stake, although no official bid has been made, some of the people added. Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported on the interest first.
Another key concern for the government was that the company —which is headquartered in Barcelona but has operations in countries such as Poland and the UK — kept its “Spanishness.” The creditors have committed to keep decision making in Spain and to appoint a Spanish chairperson, the people said.
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