The dynamic at Pescanova, a major Galician fishing company, has turned dangerous and uncertain as its major shareholders battle for control of the firm. Demetrio Carceller, president of the Catalonian beer company Damm.
And as the changes take place, current CEO of the company Manuel Fernández de Sousa will not preside. Instead, Carceller will align with the Luxembourg firm Luxempart (it owns 5.8% of Pescanova) to run operations. Carceller's initiative occurs after Pescanova failed three times to renegotiate 1.4 billion euros of debt with its creditors and disagreements with management about the direction in which the company was heading. Carceller is experienced with takeovers like this and has a 12% stake in Pescanova compared to Luxempart's 5.8%. Creditors have refused to honor the company's request for a pre-creditors meeting to discuss refinancing options. The strategy harkens back to a Sacyr deal which ended with Luis del Rivero as CEO thanks to support from Juan Abelló, the Canary Island firm Satocan and Manuel Manrique. Pescanova has too much leverage right now due to risky bets on foreign ventures and refinancing troubles. It doesn't seem like the most opportune time for Carceller to take advantage of the firm's weakness in order to gain greater decision-making power.
