La Caixa will acquire a stake in the Catalan steel company Celsa.

BarcelonaNew industrial venture from the investment arm of the La Caixa Foundation. CriteriaCaixa has reached an agreement in principle with Celsa Group, Europe's leading producer of low-emission circular steel, to acquire a stake in its capital through a capital increase. The transaction, with which the financial institution makes a clear commitment to one of the largest industries based in Catalonia and will result in approximately 20% of the shares, is expected to close in the coming weeks.

With this alliance, Celsa consolidates its financial reorganization strategy to boost its industrial plan. The company, which was formerly owned by the Rubiralta family and passed into the hands of creditors, primarily international funds, began a process to incorporate a long-term Spanish shareholder, for which five offers were submitted. The chosen one was La Caixa.

Criteria values the long-term vision and "solid" commitment of the company chaired by Rafael Villaseca to socioeconomic development in the countries where it operates, particularly in Spain for nearly 60 years. This acquisition is announced two days after Criteria's decision to acquire a 20% stake in Europastry for approximately €300 million.

This transaction, for which the amount has not been disclosed, is part of the strategic plan of Criteria, Spain's leading holding company for corporate investments, which expects the value of its portfolio to reach €40 billion by 2030. It currently exceeds €30 billion. The acquisition of Celsa is part of the company's strategy to reach €4 billion in investments in private equity companies (not listed on the stock exchange) within five years, as part of the so-called 100 Companies Plan. Half of this investment is expected to be achieved through direct investments, such as those in Celsa or Europastry, and the other half through indirect investments.

In addition to this private equity arm, Criteria has a portfolio of companies it considers strategic, including CaixaBank (31%), Naturgy (26.71%), and Telefónica (9.99%); a diversification portfolio, including ACS (9.36%), Veolia (5.01%), and Puig (3.05%), and real estate, through Inmocaixa and Colonial (17.32%).

Celsa has 120 work centers, 7 steel plants, 12 rolling mills, and 48 recycling plants, in addition to processing, distribution, and service companies. In total, it employs approximately 70,000 people, both directly and indirectly, and has industrial operations in Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Ireland.

One of the key factors in Celsa's change of ownership at the time was its value. It was necessary to determine whether it was greater than the debt it was carrying, which for several years had been held by a series of foreign funds that had bought out banks. The courts upheld the creditors' argument: Celsa's valuation was lower than the company's debt, so the funds demanded 100% ownership of this industrial company in exchange for part of the debt, approximately 1.3 billion euros.

During the legal proceedings, the parties engaged in a battle over the company's capitalization: the Rubiralta family submitted two reports—through Lazard and BDO—that valued it at around €6 billion and over €4.4 billion, respectively. At the same time, a report by independent experts Lexaudit and Grant Thornton, and another by Deloitte commissioned by the funds, estimated its value at no more than €2.851 billion.

The creditors became the owners through the capitalization of €1.352 billion in convertible debt and part of the jumbo debt, and the extension of the remaining debt maturities by five years.