The board of directors of El Corte Inglés will meet today in Madrid to elect the new president of the company after the death this Sunday of Isidoro Álvarez because of a heart condition, informed Europa Press in sources of the distribution group.

The death of Álvarez has left the highest governing body of the company composed of eight members: Dimas Gimeno Álvarez, general director of the group; Manuel Pizarro, assistant to the Presidency; Leopoldo del Nogal; Juan Hermoso; Florencio Lasaga; Carlos Martínez; Mancor portfolio (represented by Paloma García), and Corporación Ceslar (represented by Carlota Areces).

Pizarro, who was appointed deputy to the Presidency of El Corte Inglés last June, was the last to join the board, specifically at the meeting held on August 31, at the General Shareholders’ Meeting, in addition to the former dean of the Bar Association of Madrid, Antonio Hernández-Gil, who is the Secretary of the Board.

Although from El Corte Inglés there is a respectful silence on the change in the presidency until the decision of the board of directors is known, other business sources told Europa Press that, according to the chain’s trajectory, logic indicates that Dimas Gimeno , nephew of Isidoro Álvarez, is the person who gathers the attributes to be named the new strong man of the group.

Thus, Dimas Gimeno, 39, would be responsible for continuing the work of his uncle at the head of the distribution giant, whose most important challenge is to take the international leap. In 2013 Gimeno was appointed as the group’s general director, after 13 years linked to the company. Born in Madrid in 1975, he graduated in Law from the Universidad San Pablo CEU. He holds a Master’s Degree in Private Law from the same University and an MBA from IESE.

He began his professional career as a salesman of El Corte Inglés

 

an activity that he made compatible with his university studies. In the year 2000 he joined the Central Services of El Corte Inglés in Madrid. A year later, he moved to Portugal to collaborate in the start-up of the subsidiary and the first center of El Corte Inglés in the city of Lisbon.

As an assistant to the general director of the Portuguese subsidiary, he collaborated for five years in its consolidation and in the development of new centers. In 2006, the second center of El Corte Inglés opens in Portugal, in the city of Oporto, and takes over the management of it.

In 2008 he returns to Madrid to the Central Services. For a time he works in the operational areas most oriented to the activity of department stores; sales, purchases, logistics, marketing and Internet among others. Subsequently, he joined the Sales Department. In 2009, he was appointed member of the Board of Trustees of the Ramón Areces Foundation and in 2010 he was appointed advisor to El Corte Inglés. Dimas Gimeno is a specialist in the activity of department stores, with significant experience accumulated after having worked as a salesman, store manager and his subsequent step in all areas of business management.

In addition, he has participated and represented the company in international forums of the sector ‘retail’ and ‘Department Store’. To develop its work and face the new challenges on the horizon, the international expansion and the diversification of its business lines in an environment still marked by economic weakness and consumption, Dimas Gimeno will rely on its management team and in the advice from Manuel Pizarro.

Pizarro’s was a personal bet of Isidoro Álvarez to have a figure of reference with which to strengthen the financial area of ​​the group, once the refinancing of debt and open the door of new lines of financing with the appeal to the markets, culminated after closing in 2013 the first issue of bonds in its history in the amount of 600 million. Sources close to the company explained to Europa Press that Pizarro’s work will focus, fundamentally, on exploring these new funding channels with which to support the expansion of the group, and even more so now that the former president has set himself the goal of decisively confronting the challenge of internationalization.

The economist Ramón Tamames has assured

that Gimeno is the “most propitious” person to preside over the group, after the death of Isidoro Alvarez and has stressed that he is the “most esteemed” candidate, since he has been working all his life in the company together to his uncle. “I think he is the most propitious person, although there is a group, the Areces group, which controls 15% of the society, which has proposed the meeting of the board of directors, but Dimas Gimeno will most likely be the president and the second on board is Manuel Pizarro, “he said.

For his part, the businessman José Antonio Segurado stressed that El Corte Inglés has a team of “top-notch” collaborators who, in his opinion, will carry out a “comfortable and quick transition”, although Álvarez’s lack of an engine is “Absolutely irreplaceable.” Finally, the general secretary of the CEOE, José María Lacasa, stressed that the group is “solid” and “will know how to find the best solution for their direction”.

In the case of Real Madrid, the refund amounts to 18.4 million euros for the cession of land between Real Madrid and Madrid City Council, while Valencia, Hercules and Elche must return 20.4 million, 6 , 1 million and 3.7 million for the guarantees granted by the Valencian Institute of Finance for loans granted to these three clubs of the Valencian Community.

In addition, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, ​​Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna must reimburse up to 5 million euros per club for having obtained tax privileges.

The decision comes after the European Commission opened several investigations in depth and came to the conclusion that several public aid measures granted by Spain to these seven professional football clubs “unfairly benefited them from other clubs”, which means a violation of Community rules on State aid from the European Union.

The first investigation concerned tax privileges in favor of Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, ​​Athletic Bilbao and Atlético Osasuna, which were treated as non-profit entities, although in Spain professional football clubs are considered to be companies anonymous for tax purposes. In addition, the four clubs benefited from a lower tax rate (5%) for “more than 20 years, without an objective justification,” the EC stressed.

Spain has meanwhile adjusted its corporate tax legislation to end this discriminatory treatment as of January 2016, but to eliminate the undue advantages received in the past, clubs are now obliged to return unpaid taxes.

The EC considers that the amounts to be returned are limited (between 0 and 5 million per club), but the exact amounts that must be recovered by Spain will be determined by the Spanish authorities, said the EU executive.

In a second investigation, the Commission examined an assignment of land between Real Madrid and Madrid City Council. These investigations determined, with the help of an independent study, that the lands affected by the transaction were overvalued by 18.4 million euros. “This gave this club an unjustified advantage over other clubs that now must be returned,” the EC stressed.

Public funds must meet the standards of fair competition and, in this case, the subsidies investigated did not meet them “

Margrethe Vestager European Commissioner for Competition

Finally, the Commission investigated the guarantees granted by the Valencian Institute of Finance (IVF) for loans granted to Valencia, Hercules and Elche.

At that time, these clubs were experiencing financial difficulties and the public guarantee allowed them to obtain the loans in more favorable conditions. By not having paid adequate remuneration for the guarantees, these clubs benefited from an economic advantage over others, which have to be financed without the support of the State.

The state funding was not linked to a restructuring plan for the clubs with a view to their viability, and none of them applied compensatory measures to counter the distortion of competition caused by the aid, the EC said.

In this way, in order to restore fair conditions of competition with the non-subsidized clubs, Valencia, Hercules and Elche must now return the advantage received.

Community sources stressed that small clubs “will have to pay” and that it will depend on the Spanish Government how these payments are made and if a restructuring is carried out.

On the deadlines to return the amounts, the same sources indicated that in two months the authorities must indicate how the payments will be made, within a period of four months, for which the EC grants a total of six months to resolve The issue.

They specified that the illegal aid corresponds to “a limited amount”, from which the clubs benefited “in the past”, specifically in the last decade.

The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, explained that “using taxpayers’ money to finance professional football clubs can distort competition.”

“Professional football is a commercial activity in which a lot of money is at stake. Public funds must meet the standards of fair competition and, in this case, the subsidies investigated did not comply, “he added