Abelló Linde Centenary Book

THE SHAREHOLDERS AND COMPANY MANAGEMENT. LINDE’S MAJORITY
he capital of Abelló, Oxígeno-Linde SA remained substantially
Tunchanged during the first years of the period. Linde AG had 25% of
the capital and the remaining 75% was distributed among the second
and third generations of the Abelló-Rovira families and the few shareholders who
had bought shares on the Barcelona Stock Exchange. On the other hand, there
were many changes with regard to the organization of executive power.
The Board of Directors was initially formed of five people:
President
Members
Secretary
Federico Abelló Bruguera
Antonio Negre Villavecchia,
(who also acted as consultant lawyer)
Joaquín Rovira Mora
Georg Plötz, on behalf of Linde AG
Ramón Rovira Mora
Immediately under the Board, the president, Federico Abelló acted as
Manager. There was no General Manager. Just proxies. It is clear that is was not a
modern organization, in keeping with the times and the importance of the
company.
Federico Abelló Bruguera
The Linde representative only attended board meetings from time to time.
One was held exceptionally on May 6 th 1978 in Munich to make it easier for him
to be there. The poor state of health of Federico Abelló, who was unable to
attend, made it advisable to “strengthen the managerial team”. Joaquín Rovira i
Mora was appointed manager and new powers were given to the directors – Blas
Lluch i Dasi and Santiago Quintana i Ribot. A month later – General Meeting of
Shareholders, June 22 nd 1978 – Isidro Abelló i Riera was appointed director,
“covering the place available” according to the articles of association. He was the
son of Federico Abelló i Bruguera and María Mercedes Riera i Folch. He was born
in Barcelona in 1952, held a degree in Economic Science and was married to
Virginia Viñas i Trullàs. The Board was thus made up of six members, the
maximum permitted.
In 1979, a General Manager was appointed for the first time. It was the
industrial engineer, Joaquín Amigó i Palés. 1 As another way of modernising the
company – not personal – NCR 8270 equipment was bought.
An Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders on January 24 th 1980
approved a partial modification of the articles of association, with a further
increase of the maximum number of board members, which went from six to
seven. The seventh place was occupied by Federico Abelló i Riera, Isidro’s brother,
born in 1950, a chemical engineer married to Montserrat Sumpsi i Viñas. 2 As well
as the president – Federico Abelló i Bruguera, there was now a first vice-president
– Isidro Abelló i Riera – and a second vice-president and secretary, Ramón Rovira i
Mora. 3 In 1981 full powers were given to Federico Abelló i Riera. 4
1. CA, May 31 1979.
2. JGE, January 24 1980.
3. CA, January 24 1980.
4. CA, May 5 1981.
138 The german majority (1976-1983)