13.12.93 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 309/21 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 22 July 1993 concerning aid granted by the Spanish authorities on the occasion of the sale by Cenemesa/Cademesa/Conelec of certain selected assets to Asea-Brown Boveri (Only the Spanish text is authentic) (93/627/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 93 (2) thereof, Having given notice in accordance with the above Article to interested parties to submit their comments and having regard to those comments, Whereas: I The so-called Cenemesa group (CCC) is formed by three privately-owned companies whose aim was the production of heavy electrical equipment, namely: — Constructora Nacional de Maquinaria Eléctrica, SA (Cenemesa) — Catalana de Maquinaria Eléctrica SA (Cademesa) and — Constructora Nacional de Equipos Eléctricos SA (Conelec) These companies operated eight industrial plants situated in six different Spanish Autonomous Communities: Company Factories at %ng:;s::-.?:; Cenemesa Cérdoba Andalusia Erandio (Vizcaya) Basque country Reinosa Cantabria Madnd Madrid Valladolid Castille/Ledn Cademesa Sabadell (Barcelona) Catalonia Conelec Galindo (Vizcaya) Basque country Trapaga (Vizcaya) Basque country The abovementioned plants are currently owned and operated by several subsidiaries of the transnational group, Asea-Brown Boveri (hereinafter referred to as ‘ABB’), (see following sections of this Decision). At the end of 1988 the abovementioned industrial facilities represented 50 % of the Spanish production capacity in the electrical equipment sector. They employed 5 102 workers which constituted in turn 47 % of the global sectoral workforce. Their basic product range covered: power transformers, generators, industrial and traction motors, and switchgear. The formation of the CCC group took place in the "middle of the 1980s when several transnational companies decided to abandon their industrial activities in Spain as a result of the long-lasting crisis experienced worldwide in the capital goods sector: In October 1983, in consequence of continued financial difficulties, Westinghouse Espafiola SA — Spanish subsidiary of the transnational group Westinghouse Electric — filed a Court application for suspension of payments. At the same time, representatives of the trans- national initiated talks with the Spanish administration to discuss plans for selling the Spanish subsidiary which would otherwise have been liquidated. Further to these discussions, Westinghouse Electric agreed to sell its 98 % stake in the Spanish subsidiary at a token price of Pta 1 per share to Arbobyl Ltd, a British privately-held company specialized in taking over troubled companies. After this transaction, Westinghouse Espafiola SA changed its name to Cenemesa. In December 1985 the transnational group Brown Boveri sold its 100 % shareholding in its Spanish subsidiary Brown Bovery de Espafia, SA to Cenemesa for Pta 450 million. Later on, Brown Bovery de Espafia, SA changed its name to Cademesa.