The cries of “Celestino resignation” and “Ainhoa Rivera, on the street” have become common among Tubacex workers on indefinite strike. Both slogans refer to the managers of the plants of Llodio and Amurrio.

Trained at the University of Navarra, Celestino Danis Basurko has made a long and fruitful career in the business world, as mentioned in his Linkedin account. GKN began in 1994 in the British multinational and entered Tubacex in 2011. Since then he has held a number of positions, always in the leading positions. He currently holds two management positions at the disposal of CEO Jesús Esmoris.

In the case of Ainhoa Rivera, it should be noted that she worked for more than ten years at the Norten company of Arakaldo as director of Human Resources. In 2012 he became part of the Tubacex team, where he is currently in office.

Management Board

But Celestino Danis and Ainhoa Rivera are only the two links of a long chain. Tubacex is currently a holding company made up of fourteen companies. Each company has its own governance structure, but they all follow the same management board. The fact that it is divided into so many companies does not seem to be a random decision. In fact, trade unions have repeatedly denounced that management has carried out “accounting engineering” to symbolise that Aiaraldea’s factories are not profitable (attributing profits to other companies in the group, for example).

The steering body is composed of twelve members. There are people of different profiles, but most have one thing in common: they have held an intense professional career in other companies, always in high positions. One of the most notable cases is that of Nuria López de Guereñu Ansola: After being Secretary General of Confesbask and Councillor for Transport and Public Works of the Basque Government, he joined the Management Board of Tubacex, whose works began under his direction. Rosa García García García has worked at Microsoft and Francisco Javier García Sanz was Global Purchasing Executive Director at the U.S. company GM Corporation.

However, the two most prominent persons on the board are Álvaro Videgain Muro and Jesús Esmoris Esmoris, President of Tubacex and CEO, respectively.

The Shadow of the Aristrain

But the Management Board is not the highest governing body, but the shareholders’ meeting. The share capital of the company group amounts to EUR 59,840.451.9 (according to 2018 data), distributed in 132,978,782 shares. Depending on the number of shares, shareholders hold more or less votes.

The multinational in Aiaraldea has many shareholders, but there is one that stands out among all: José María Aristrain. Since 2011, Tubacex has 11% of the actions, the highest percentage, and has a direct influence on the Management Board. Two of the members of the Governing Body are proposed by the Governing Body: Isabel López Diapers and Gema Navarro Mancado.

José María Aristrain is one of the richest people in Europe, according to the BBC's Forbes list. However, he is not a well-known person. Seldom has it appeared in public and very few photos of it can be found on the Internet.

The most recent image you can find is the one you got when you appeared in the courtroom to make a statement. In fact, the prosecutor’s office has asked him for 64 years in prison and a fine of EUR 1.4 billion for concealing EUR 200 million from the Gipuzkoan treasury. According to the accusation, Aristrain pretended to live in Switzerland in order not to pay taxes and concealed to the treasury his shares in ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg. It should be noted that one of the people who, through Aristrain, takes over the direction of Tubacex, Gema Navarro Manrique, acts from this country.

The trial has been blocked for ten years by the refusal of the Madrid Provincial Court to take over the case, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. So far. In fact, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled last December that the provincial court will have to judge the businessman. In the meantime, Aristrain has been released on a bond of EUR 750 million in civil liability.

Another important shareholder is Ángel Soria Vaquerizo, who has 3% of the shares. It ranks 154 on the list of the richest people in the Spanish state and owns many office buildings in Madrid.

Itzarri also stands out among its shareholders - 3.21% -, which is the Voluntary Social Security Institution (EPSV) that manages the staff dimensioning plan of the General and Institutional Administration of the Basque Country. In other words, the Basque Government is, in a way, one of the main shareholders of Tubacex.