In August 2020, Grupo Gallardo Balboa was acquired by Grupo Industrial Cristian Lay.
KKR was the owner of the steelmaker group since last year when the group had breached its commitments to KKR. Grupo Gallardo Balboa was currently in a state of pre-insolvency as a preventive measure to try to maintain the company´s viability after unsuccessfully applying for funding guaranteed by the ICO (Official Credit Institute).
Cristian Lay industrial group has acquired 100% of Grupo Gallardo Balboa ensuring business continuity and preserving the workforce (around 900). The acquisition implied to lift the pre-Insolvency state and make financial commitments for €145 million, including a capital increase of €70 million.
Duff & Phelps served as the exclusive financial and operational advisor to Cristian Lay in connection with the transaction with a team formed by Vicente Estrada (Iberia Governance, Risk, Investigations and Disputes Services Leader Managing Director), César Rocha (restructuring managing director), Francisco Fernández (cash management director), Francisco Higuera (transactions director) and José María Marco (corporate finance director).
About Grupo Gallardo
Gallardo Balboa is €0,5b revenue company that produces steel through the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route at a number of sites in Spain. It specializes mainly in the supply of long products and tube. It has factories throughout Spanish communities including Extremadura, Madrid, and País Vasco.
About Cristian Lay
Grupo Industrial Cristian Lay was founded in 1981 by Ricardo Leal and it operates in an array of different fields. These include the production and sales distribution of jewelry and high jewelry, cosmetic and personal hygiene products, corrugated cardboard, the distribution of piped gas, renewable energies (photovoltaic), the fruit and vegetable sector and more recently, the chemical sector and the maintenance of wind farms.
