O fim de IZARe o nascimento de NAVANTIA

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O fim de IZARe o nascimento de NAVANTIA
« em: Março 05, 2005, 06:37:36 pm »
Izar Shipyards Cause SEPI to Lose 979 million Euros in 2004
 
 
(Source: SEPI; dated Feb. 25, 2005)
 
 
 MADRID, Spain --- The state-owned holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) closed the fiscal year 2004, according to interim figures, with negative results amounting to 979 million Euros, basically due to the reorganization of state-owned shipyards, whose labor-related costs, approximately 1,200 million Euros, appears reflected in the previous results, since during the year 2004 none of its companies has been privatized.  
 
In the fiscal year 2003, during which it made a 1,049 million Euros profit, besides of not including the above mentioned cost, a number of privatizations were carried out and which generated for this Company an income which amounted to over 1,500 million Euros, especially those generated by the privatization of the Empresa Nacional de Autopistas.  
 
SEPI, Izar and the trade unions reached on December last year an agreement for guaranteeing the future of the shipbuilding industry, both for the military and civil branches, offering an answer to the consequences resulting from the decision taken by the European Commission of declaring some of the aids granted in the past to the shipyards as incompatible with Community law and, especially, due to its own financial position.  
 
The agreement subscribed envisaged the reorganization of the workforce, with the early retirement of about 4,000 workers, covering the financial cost up to their reaching the legal age for receiving the state retirement benefit, and whose forecasted cost are the above mentioned 1,200 million Euros. (ends)  
 
 
 
 SEPI’s Chairman Informs Congress that the Sale of Izar’s Civil Facilities will Begin in April
 
 
(Source: SEPI; dated Feb. 23, 2005)
 
 
 The process for the sale of the facilities which have not been transferred to the new shipbuilding company for the construction of military vessels is envisaged to begin next April, once IZAR begins its liquidation process. So was stated by the Chairman of the state-owned holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), Mr. Enrique Martínez Robles, during his intervention today before the Congress' Commission in charge of the Economics and Treasury.  
 
SEPI's Chairman answered the questions made by the Popular and Mixed-BNGs' Parliamentary Groups regarding Izar, highlighting the importance of the Agreement reached on December 16th, 2004 among the trade unions, the Company and SEPI itself. With this Agreement, he pointed out, it is possible to face the very serious situation through which the state-owned shipyards were in due to the unfortunate decisions made by the previous Government, which did not face the civil shipyards' real underlying problems.  
 
During his intervention, Mr. Martínez Robles made a balance of the negotiation process previous to the Agreement, reminding that the commitment assumed was to face the problem in all its dimensions, in order to provide the shipyards with a feasibility horizon, with transparency and dialogue. Equally, he declared that SEPI's proposal has always had as its essential principle the need to preserve the military activity from the effects resulting from the Company's liquidation, through its spin-off, and to guarantee that Izar's inevitable liquidation process takes place in a voluntary and orderly fashion, in order to maintain the activity of the civil facilities through the influx of private capital.  
 
He also reviewed the Agreement's content, one of whose points makes reference to the industrial actions envisaged for the new company, which results from the spin-off of Izar's military activity, with the aim of achieving its long-term sustained profitability. Among these actions are Company's reorientation towards the development of new products and systems; the facilities' specialization; technological, production and environmental investments, the set-up of an integral management system, as well as for the prevention of work risks; and a number of measures for raising the productivity, cutting costs and improving the production processes.  
 
He also informed that, after the signing of the Agreement, SEPI and Izar started the measures needed for its implementation as soon as possible, among which are the corporate and financial actions carried out for making possible the spin-off of New Izar and its incorporation. In this sense, he mentioned the resolutions adopted by SEPI's and Izar's Boards, on December 17th, 2004, which authorized the capital increase of the new Company, and which Izar assumed through a non-cash contribution and which essentially consisted in the contribution of the military activity branch, and the authorization for the Company's acquisition by SEPI and Izar. All of which was made through this January.  
 
Regarding the formal process for IZAR going into dissolution, Mr. Martínez Robles announced that this began in Izar's Board meeting on February 3rd, 2005, in which the Company's net worth was known. In application of the Public Limited Companies Act (Ley de Sociedades Anónimas), the Shareholder has two months for convening the Shareholders General Meeting which has to declare the Company's dissolution situation, the only legally possible solution since it is not possible to make the contributions required for the restoration of the Company's net worth.  
 
As for the actions regarding the workforce, SEPI's Chairman pointed out that the inclusion of the workers into the new company took place when the assets where contributed, in force since December 31st, 2004, staying in IZAR the workers which belonged to the facilities which had not been transferred and those affected by the compulsory special redundancy procedure (ERE). This ERE, through which takes place the Early Retirement Plan envisaged in the Agreement, which affects 4,028 workers, was submitted to the Dirección General de Trabajo on December 23rd, 2004, opening at the same time the consulting period with the trade unions' representatives, which is still going on.  
 
Regarding the commercial actions made since the Agreements' signature, he reminded that on December 30th, 2004 an agreement between Knutsen OAS Shipping-MarPetrol SA and IZAR was signed for the building of a 138,000 m3 LNG ship (Liquefied Natural Gas), agreement which was ratified on January 26th, 2005 entering in force the contract for the above ship, whose shipper will be REPSOL/Gas Natural, and which will be built at Sestaos' shipyard.  
 
With regard to the actions carried out at the Community level, he said that once the European authorities had shown their favorable opinion with respect to the measures to be applied in IZAR, the Spanish state is preparing, in close collaboration with the European Commission the document which describes the measures which affect the new military company, invoking in this regard article 296 of the Treaty.  
 
-ends-
 

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Nascimento de Navantia
« Responder #1 em: Março 05, 2005, 06:52:42 pm »
SEPI Presents Navantia, the New Military Shipbuilding Company
 
 
(Source: Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI); issued March 2, 2005)
 
 
 MADRID, Spain --- The new Spanish company for military shipbuilding, Navantia, has been presented today in an act chaired by the Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economics and the Treasury, Mr. Pedro Solbes, together with the Chairman of the state-owned holding company the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), Mr. Enrique Martínez Robles, and the Chairman of the new Company, Mr. Juan Pedro Gómez Jaén.  
 
This company for the design, manufacturing and integration of ships, basically in the military field, and which is owned by SEPI, is the result of the spin-off of Izar’s military activity and of the agreement subscribed for giving feasibility to the state-owned shipyards.  
 
The Government' s Vice President, during his discourse, pointed to this event as the beginning of a future for the shipyards, as well as the manifestation, together with the Framework Agreement signed by SEPI, Izar and the trade unions, that the objectives set by the Government for facing the problem posed by the state-owned shipyards have been achieved, through the permanent dialogue with all the parties concerned and thanks to the rigor and the realism in the analysis and in the proposals for its resolution.  
 
Mr. Enrique Martínez Robles pointed out the support which SEPI will offer, as its only shareholder, to Navantia' s Industrial Plan, a company which he also stated continues a centuries old tradition in all the manifestations related with the Spanish Navy.  
 
Mr. Juan Pedro Gómez Jaén, as Navantia’s Chairman, made a detailed presentation of the new company, of its activity lines, facilities, technological and production capacities, of its products, as well as about its presence in the market, both domestic and international. Also the corporate identity of this new company was presented, which will begin to be implanted in a progressive way in all the Company's graphic material, and which will be extended to the markets in which it carries out its activity. The new name intends to reflect the spirit with which it is born; Navantia is going forward, it is naval, it is modernity and it is spirit.  
 
 
Over 250 years of activity in military shipbuilding  
 
Navantia' s lines of activity are shipbuilding, propulsion and energy, ship repairs and systems and weapons; both in the military and in the civil sectors, although to the later it can apply a maximum of 20% of its total activity. It is the direct heir to an experience which is over 250 years old in building, maintaining and transforming ships for the Spanish Navy, to whose needs and requirements it has responded, taking a very direct role in the progressive and strong efforts for the promotion of our Navy during the last 20-30 years.  
 
Thus, this new company is born as one of the main providers of naval systems currently in the international market, with capacity for facing new constructions, maintenance and transformation; and one of the few companies with total capacity for the design, development, manufacturing, integration and logistic integrated support for platforms, propulsion and naval combat systems, and for delivering fully operative ships. It also has on offer one of the market's most comprehensive catalogue for military ships and coast guards, and the capacity for facing new projects.  
 
The manufacturing facilities integrated into Navantia had a turnover in 2004 of over 1,100 million Euros, with exports which amounted to 564 million Euros. These work centers have a total workforce of 5,562 workers, and they are located on the bay of El Ferrol (El Ferrol and Fene), the bay of Cádiz (Cádiz, Puerto Real and San Fernando) and Cartagena, while the Head Office is in Madrid.  
 
 
High technological and production capacities  
 
Navantia has a Department for Innovation, and it carries out a significant effort in R&D&I as the key for its competitiveness and differentiation. It is a leader in the use of integrated modular building for military ships, a system which it uses in all its products, submarines included.  
 
Its technological and production capacities have allowed Navantia's facilities to develop the most complex naval systems during the last few years. In the eighties it is worthwhile to mention the aircraft carrier Príncipe de Asturias and the FFG frigates (F-81 to 84). In the nineties, the F-85/86 frigates, the amphibious ships LPD, the combat support ship or the minesweepers, demonstrating its capacity for the design of advanced platforms and for developing on-board systems. And in the twenty first century, the ship for strategic projection and the S-80 submarines, among others, showing its innovative technological and productive capacities.  
 
That is why Navantia is capable of meeting the requirements of the Spanish Navy, as well as for being one of the most important Spanish export companies, with products such as the aircraft carrier built for Thailand; the most modern frigate in Europe, as the one which is being developed for Norway, and conventional submarines, which are being built for Chile and for Malaysia. Thus, the new company is currently taking part in the military programs in Chile, Norway and Malaysia, besides that of Spain.  
 
Navantia also carries out a policy of collaboration with other companies, both domestic and international, it has strategic alliances and for product for the design and marketing of projects, and it cooperates in innovation with well-known technologists. At the moment it participates in the Afcon consortium, together with the US companies Bath Irons, the US Navy main shipyard, and with Lockheed Martin, the world leader in the development and design of combat systems. Equally, with the French DCN, it participates in a consortium for the development of the Scorpene submarines.  
 
Navantia has a comprehensive product line, such as aircraft carriers and amphibious ships, which has allowed it to develop the strategic projection ship, one of the most competitive in the world today. One of its star products is the F-100 frigate, for the Spanish Navy, with the bet relationship in performance, displacements and costs in the world; which has originated the biggest naval innovation program in Spain and which has generated a significant international industrial cooperation, as well as a family of ships with cutting-edge technology derived for their export. It also is consolidating itself as a designer and integrator of conventional submarines.  
 
 
BACKGROUND NOTES:  
 
The Council of Ministers on July 30th, 2004, authorized Izar to incorporate this new company, with the goal of facing the crisis at the state-owned shipyards, basically due to the serious financial position through which was Izar itself, and, also, by the need to return the aids received and which were incompatible with Community Law, giving an independent treatment, thanks to its special characteristics, to the shipbuilding military activity, within the European legal framework.  
 
The Agreement subscribed with the trade unions on December 16th, 2004, opened the way for finding a solution and a future for Izars' shipyards; both for the civil ones, thanks to the entry into them of private capital, and for the military shipyards, integrated into NAVANTIA.  
 
The new company was incorporated, with the interim name of New Izar, with the goal of integrating Izar's military activity and of carrying out a complementary activity in the civil market, once an action plan which complied with the Community Law were agreed.  
 
On December 17th, 2004, after the signing of the Agreement, SEPI's Board of Directors authorized Izar to transfer all the corresponding assets to New Izar, as well as the subsequent acquisition by this state-owned holding company.  
 
Last January, SEPI acquired to Izar all the participations in New Izar, now Navantia, which was inscribed in the Trade Register.  
 
-ends-
 

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« Responder #2 em: Abril 04, 2005, 01:08:20 pm »
SEPI’s Board of Directors Agrees to Adopt, during IZAR’s Extraordinary General Meeting, This Company’s Winding-up
 
 
(Source: SEPI; issued April 1, 2005)
 
 
 The Board of Directors of the state-owned holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), in its meeting celebrated today has agreed to adopt, during the Extraordinary General Meeting of IZAR Construcciones Navales, S.A., which takes place immediately afterwards, the winding-up of this Company, since it has incurred into the assumption considered in article 260.1.4º of the Public Limited Companies Act (Ley de Sociedades Anónimas), in accordance with that stipulated in articles 262.1 of this Act and 70 of the Company’s Articles of Association.  
 
In this way, the period for the winding-up of the shipbuilding company is declared open, and its social name becomes IZAR Construcciones Navales, S.A. en Liquidación, in keeping with that stipulated in article 264 of the Ley de Sociedades Anónimas.  
 
The dissolution and winding-up of IZAR was already authorized by SEPI´s Board of Administration in its meeting on February 25th. Later, IZAR’s Board, in the meeting which it celebrated on March 18th, 2005 prepared the Annual Accounts for the Company corresponding to the fiscal year 2004, with negative shareholders´ equity amounting to 2,242,887,000 Euros, against a social capital amounting to 537,161,000 Euros.  
 
Another of the decisions which SEPI´s Board of Directors has authorized today to be adopted in IZAR’s Extraordinary Meeting, has been the resignation, for legal reasons, of all the Members of this Company’s Board of Directors, the approval of the Winding-Up Norms and the appointment of the seven Members who will make up the Winding-Up Body, 5 representing SEPI and 2 representing the trade unions which were represented in IZAR´s Board of Directors. The Company’s current Chairman, Mr. Juan Pedro Gómez Jaén, will be the person who will chair the above mentioned winding-up body.  
 
In keeping with the above mentioned Winding-Up Norms, the liquidators appointed by the Board will act jointly, as the Winding-Up Board or Committee, being its remit to carry out IZAR’s orderly winding-up, fulfilling in time and fully its outstanding obligations. Among its powers will be those of selling its assets according to the publicity and concurrence principles, as well as that of liquidating its labor liabilities and other contingencies which might exist.  
 
Besides these powers, in keeping with article 272 of the Ley de Sociedades Anónimas, the Winding-Up Body will have as its main functions those of subscribing, together with the Administrators, the Inventory and initial Balance of the Company being liquidated, to guarantee the integrity of its net worth, to carry out the outstanding commercial transactions and the new ones which might be required for the liquidation, to divest the social goods and to make the payments due to the creditors and to the partners in accordance with the norms of the Act, as well as to hold the Company’s representation for the fulfillment of all the obligations. (ends)  
 
 
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Izar’s naval shipbuilding activities were spun off in February into a new company, Navantia.)  
 
-ends-
 

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« Responder #3 em: Junho 02, 2005, 11:56:58 am »
State Aid: Commission Approves Restructuring of Spanish Public Military Shipyards
 
 
(Source: European Commission; issued June 1, 2005)
 
 
 BRUSSELS --- The European Commission has approved, under the terms of the EC Treaty’s rules allowing Member States to take measures to protect essential security interests linked to defence industries (Article 296 of the EC Treaty), a reorganisation of the Spanish public military shipyards.  
 
These yards were formerly owned by IZAR but have recently been taken over by a new company called Navantia.  
 
The solution allows Spain to protect its essential security interests by rescuing its military shipyards, while ensuring that there will be no undue distortion of competition in the market for civil shipbuilding and ship repair. The solution also takes account, to the greatest possible extent, of the social and regional problems involved in this case.  
 
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said “This is an important step in the reorganisation of the public Spanish shipbuilding sector. Combined with the foreseen sale of IZAR’s civil shipyards and generous social measures, this reorganisation will safeguard Spain’s military shipbuilding needs, and eliminate distortions of competition in civil shipbuilding.”  
 
IZAR was, until the end of 2004, the main shipbuilding company in Spain. Its activities were spread over 11 sites in Galicia, Asturias, Basque Country, Valencia, Murcia, Andalucia and Madrid. It had around 10,700 employees. Around half of the sales concerned military production.  
 
By two decisions in 2004 the Commission decided that EUR 864 million of state aid to IZAR was not in line with EC State aid rules and had to be recovered (see IP/04/633 and IP/04/1260). Spain invoked Article 296 of the EC Treaty, which allows a Member State to “take such measures as it considers necessary for the protection of the essential interests of its security which are connected with the production of or trade in arms, munitions and war materials”, with the objective of rescuing the military shipbuilding activities from a foreseen bankruptcy of IZAR. This rescue would take place by transferring IZAR’s military shipyards to a new public company (Navantia).  
 
Following discussions with the Commission, Spain has agreed to a range of measures and commitments in accordance with Article 298 of the EC Treaty that are valid for ten years:  
 
--Navantia’s civil sales will not exceed 20% of total sales, as a 3-year moving average  
 
--Navantia will act on the basis of market conditions as regards its civil activities. It will therefore keep separate internal accounts for civil and military activities. For each contract for a new civil ship, a cost calculation will be provided to the Commission. For ship repair, information will be provided annually.  
 
--Navantia’s civil activities will not benefit from any state aid, except export credits and development aid in line with the shipbuilding state aid framework and OECD criteria.  
 
--the workforce of Navantia, will not exceed 5562 persons.  
 
 
IZAR was put into liquidation on 1 April 2005. The liquidators plan to sell the remaining assets (shipyards in Gijon, Sestao and Sevilla and a motor factory in Manises). The sale of these assets should take place under market conditions, on an open, transparent and unconditional basis, as otherwise the buyers might find themselves obliged to pay the outstanding amounts of illegal state aid due to be recovered from IZAR.  
 
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