The Catalan textile entrepreneur who created 'Burrito Blanco'

In recent weeks, there has been much talk about the insurance company Catalana Occidente, due to the offer made by the owning family, the Serras, to the remaining shareholders to acquire all of the capital. However, the Serra name is not the only one that has appeared in the news reports; there has also been mention of lesser-known historical shareholders of the company, such as Juncadella and Thiebaut. The former belongs to one of the pioneering families of the Catalan textile sector, which for many decades accumulated power and factories throughout Catalonia. One of the leading figures of this family was Josep Maria Juncadella Burés, who led its businesses during their peak.

Our protagonist was the product of the union of two fundamental dynasties in the Catalan textile sector, as both the Juncadella and Burés families were among the first fortunes built on textiles. The first major manufacturer on his father's side was Jeroni Juncadella i Casanovas, who already owned a textile business in the 1820s, largely inherited from his father. In 1842, he took a significant leap forward with the opening of a new production plant in the Raval district of Barcelona. The family fortune continued to grow generation after generation, reaching the great-grandson, who is our protagonist today. As for his mother's side, the pioneers were the brothers Esteve and Francesc Burés i Arderiu, who around 1875 established a large factory by consolidating the production centers they had been operating for years on the banks of the Llobregat River. Given this background, it's no surprise that Josep Maria Juncadella's path led him to the textile business, an activity he complemented with other investments that allowed him to diversify the family's interests.

After studying engineering in Switzerland, he took over the family business, which in 1940 was consolidated under the name Industrias Burés, SA. However, before that, he married Mercedes Salisachs Roviralta, also from a wealthy family, who later became a well-known writer—in 1975 she won the Planeta Prize with her novel Gangrene –Without a doubt, the best-known brand of Industrias Burés was Burrito Blanco, of bed linens.

In 1960, he became president of Catalana Occidente, when the company was still called La Catalana – although it was part of the same group as Occidente, they had not yet merged. He replaced Joan Ventosa i Calvell, who had died the previous year. Under his leadership, in 1963, the company launched the first computer in the entire insurance sector, or, as it was called at the time, the first electronic brain. He held the position until his death in 1993.

In 1962, he put into operation a waterfall, which he owned, in the Sau-Susqueda-El Pasteral hydroelectric system, in collaboration with Hidroeléctrica de Cataluña. In the textile sector, in 1965, he partnered with Eugeni Mora to acquire a stake in the Spanish division of Burberry. Seven years later, they bought out the British shareholders, leaving Juncadella and Mora as the sole partners of the brand. A very ambitious operation was the 1969 purchase of the Coma Cros factory, a textile mill in Salt (Girona) with a long history dating back to the early 20th century. In the 1970s, he also chaired Ferrocarrils de Catalunya—the precursor to the current FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya). Those years preceded its transfer to the public sector. Having a writer wife was probably the main reason he acquired Editorial Labor, a Catalan publishing house founded in 1915 that focused primarily on disseminating knowledge. During his time as chairman of the company, Ramon Trias Fargas served as its chief executive. He also had a very active social life, which extended to several projects, such as being a member of the provincial board of the Spanish Association Against Cancer and of the board of the Eucharistic Congress Housing, from the entity's creation until 1972. Among his descendants are also figures in motorsport from the 1970s, and his grandson Daniel Juncadella Pérez-Sala was a Formula 1 driver.