The legal battle between the Álvarez Mezquíriz brothers, heirs to the founder of Eulen David Álvarez is living a new chapter that, once again, the Supreme Court will have to take into account.
The five brothers who have the majority shareholding of Juniperthe company that owns Vega Sicilia, have appealed before the High Court the decision adopted by the Provincial Court of Madrid, which in a ruling dated in April declared null a sale of shares that these, Marta, Elvira, Juan Carlos, Emilio and Pablo Álvarez Mezquiriz, undertook in 2013 to group under El Enebro the shares they had in Eulen individually.
An operation with similar characteristics to the one they carried out on December 1, 2021, and which CincoDias published in its edition last Tuesday. These, who already had 66% of the capital of El Enebro, decided to sell to Mezqual Ibérica, under which they concentrate this participation, the rest of the shares they held in a personal capacity, equivalent to 3.8% of the capital. In exchange, they received 23 million euros.
In the case of 2013, there were 152,620 Eulen titles, representative of the 30% of the company, which the Álvarez Mezquirizes sold to El Enebro in March of that year for a total of 80.8 million euros, at 530 euros per share. Then, in the middle of the family war, the family patriarch, David Álvarez, accused them of “emptying” the estate.
The payment was made in several installments, which accrued interest that she assumed, as well as the expenses of the five operations, one for each brother. In addition, it put part of the capital of Vega Sicilia as a guarantee of payment.
Section 28 of the Provincial Court of Madrid, in its April ruling, annulled these agreements after a complaint from María José Álvarez, owner and president of Eulen, and which has 13.4% of the capital of El Enebro. This, sister of the defendants, with whom she maintains a long confrontation, initially took the case to criminal proceedings. After being dismissed, he went to the Commercial Courts, which in the first instance dismissed his claim.
Second, the Provincial Court fully upheld his appeal. The resolution indicates that the five defendant brothers incurred in “breach of duty of loyalty”by “putting their own particular interest before that of the company, both in the very decision to enter into contracts for the sale of Eulen shares, of which they themselves are sellers, even making it incur contractual expenses due to a decision of its staff interest, as in the determination of the conditions in which said contracts take place”, says the judgment.
This underlines that the decision to group the shares was a response to the concentration made by María José Álvarez herself and the patriarch of the family, the late David Álvarez, under the company Daval Control to maintain the majority of Eulen.
Doubts about the price
In addition, the ruling points to the fixed price of 530 euros per titlewhich according to the judges was “determined without proving adequate support and with evidence of being superior to the actual actions.”
It also discusses the pledge imposed on shares of Vega Sicilia in favor of the Álvarez Mezquiriz family, and which in its day allowed them to strengthen their political rights over the winery.
The ruling decrees that the contracts be reversed. That is to say, that El Enebro returns Eulen’s shares to their former owners, and also the dividends it received during the years in which it held those titles under its ownership. Currently, these are owned by the Mezqual Ibérica company, in which the five brothers share their investments.
The judges also annul the pledge on the shares of Vega Sicilia, and dictate that they return the 81 million they received at the time for the sale, and that they pay the expenses incurred by El Enebro for the transactions, just over 174,000 euros, and the costs of first instance.
The sentence, yes, has not been executed. This has been appealed by the Álvarez Mezquiriz in recent days before the Supreme Court, after filing an appeal for clarification that was dismissed.
This will decide again on the business relationship of the family, conflictive since before the death of David Álvarez, and that continues without appeasing almost seven years after his death.
A long history of legal disputes
Family. The popular proverb says that dirty rags are washed at home. In the case of the Álvarez family, those dirty rags usually go through the courts first. The confrontation comes from afar. On the one hand, five of the seven children of the patriarch, Davíd Álvarez: Marta, Elvira, Juan Carlos, Emilio and Pablo Álvarez. Opposite, a sixth daughter, María José Álvarez, lined up next to her father. In between, the seventh brother, Jesús David, who a few years ago decided to sell his shares in Enebro to the top five.
Source. At the beginning of 2010, David Álvarez, then 82 years old, decided to take over the management of El Enebro, but the five sons he was facing dismissed him as president at a subsequent shareholders’ meeting, which ended up in court and was annulled. . After his death, Maria José came to have control of 57.57% of Eulen through Daval Control, and her brothers that of El Enebro. The inheritance was also the subject of a judicial confrontation for which the five brothers confronting his father requested the dismissal of the executor. In the end, the cast did not change.
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