The Spanish construction firm FCC is in trouble. Company President Esther Alcocer, her mother and FCC primary shareholder Esther Koplowitz and CEO Juan Béjar. Since he took office last January, Béjar has run the company in a way that the family does not agree with.
There is a fundamental problem: Béjar was appointed by creditor banks even though criteria outlined by the Koplowitz family, which owns 53.9% of FCC. Renegotiating 5 billion of FCC's 6.5 billion euro debt load was the top priority and pushed aside other considerations.
The creditors chose Béjar because they thought he had the aptitude for the job. He was respected as an excellent manager and was supposed to help FCC make necessary cuts. Since January, Béjar has fired more than 2,800 employees. This aggressive strategy does not align with the philanthropic bent of the Koplowitz family or Bill Gates, who are both important stakeholders in the company.
They did not understand that FCC had no room for negotiation when making various ERE payments and that Béjar's plans to make key divestments as part of the company restructuring process did not work out.
Of the 2.2 billion that the company was going to get for selling Cemusa, renewable energies and Logística, among other assets, it has only raised 300 million. Béjar has managed his relationship with Alocer clumsily, and it is alarming that his road shows to sell the successfull restructuring of the company are not finished.