Talgo approves the transfer of its headquarters from Madrid to Álava and promotes Rafael Sterling as CEO

The new Board of Directors of Talgo has agreed return the social and fiscal headquarters of the train manufacturer to Álavaincorporate Sidenor representatives José Antonio Jainaga and Maite Echarri as representatives of the Basque consortium on the council, dismiss Gonzalo Urquijo as CEO and appoint Rafael Sterling as general director.

This Wednesday the first board of directors meeting was held after the signing before a notary of the purchase of 29% of Talgo by the Basque consortium -made up of Sidenor, the Basque Government, Vital and Kutxa-, and after the entry of the State through the SEPI and the signing of the new bank financing.

This same Wednesday All the company’s new financing agreements have been formalized with the various financial entities. A syndicate of banks formed, among others, by Caixabank, BBVA, Kutxabank and ICO, have refinanced 770 million, with the participation of CESCE, which has provided hedging instruments for an amount of up to 765 million. Likewise, the entry of SEPI as a shareholder has been formalized, as a result of the capital increase approved at the meeting, and the purchase by the Basque consortium of part of the Pegaso shares, corresponding to 27.9% of Talgo.

Talgo’s shareholding is therefore constituted with 27.4% in the hands of the Basque consortium (Jose Antonio Jainaga 7.8%, Finkatuz 7.8%, BBK 7.8% and Vital 3.9%), Pegaso 9.3%, SEPI 7.8%, Torrblas 5.0%, Torreal 3.2%, treasury shares 0.7% and the rest ‘free float’ on the stock market. As a consequence of the shareholder changes, a new board of directors has been formed, which has agreed to return the corporate and fiscal headquarters of Talgo to Álava, where it was originally located, in 1942, the year of its foundation. Therefore, the board of directors has been made up of Carlos Palacio Oriol (president), José Antonio Jainaga, Maite Echarri, Antonio Porto del Olmo, Marisa Poncela García and Gonzalo Urquijo.

Rivabellosa was the company’s first plant, where more than 700 people currently work and where the cars for all Talgo trains are manufactured. Two new proprietary directors have joined this new board, the president of Sidenor, Jose Antonio Jainaga, and Maite Echarri as representatives of the Basque consortium, while María José Zueco and Mario Álvarez have left.

Jainaga is an industrial engineer, president of Sidenor and director of Teknia, with an extensive industrial career since his beginnings at Sener and his time at Michelin, where he became general director of the passenger tire division. In 1998 he joined Sidenor, which would later be acquired by the Brazilian group Gerdau, and of which he was CEO until 2016 when he acquired the company in the divestment process carried out by Gerdau. It is part of entities such as the Círculo de Empresarios Vascos, APD or Tecnalia.

For her part, Maite Echarri, a graduate in Economics with a specialty in Finance, is financial director, IT and Information Security at Sidenor, where she began working in 2012. Previously she was financial director at GHK-Consorcio de Residuos in Gipuzkoa, Controller of the steel division of the CIE Automotive group and Manager at Andersen Consulting-Accenture. In addition, she is a director at Ohmnia Electronics and a professor at the University of Deusto in financial management.

Sterling takes the reins

On the other hand, the council has approved the dismissal of Gonzalo Urquijo as CEO of the company and it has been agreed to appoint Rafael Sterling as general director. Rafael Sterling is a telecommunications engineer and MBA from the University of Deusto. He worked for nine years at Irizar, where he reached the position of CEO before joining Talgo. In 2022 he began his career at the train manufacturer, where he was director of business development, a responsibility to which in 2024 he added that of director of operations.

Likewise, the Board of Directors has approved the call for an Extraordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting for next January 27, which will be held in Álava and which will propose the ratification of the proprietary directors Jose Antonio Jainaga and Maite Echarri, and the appointment as proprietary director of Juan Antonio Corchero representing SEPI, as well as two new independent directors: Arantza Estefanía and Ricardo Chocarro. Likewise, the departure of Gonzalo Urquijo as director will be ratified.

Juan Antonio Sánchez Corchero is, as Talgo has highlighted, a businessman with extensive professional experience in training through the Aspasia Group that he presided over, and the motorhome rental and sales company Cars&Caravans. He is currently president of SEA Empresarios Alaveses and is part of the board of directors of Confebask and CEOE. For her part, Arantza Estefanía has a degree in Law. Until January 2019, she was managing partner of the Bilbao office of the Uría Menéndez Abogados firm. She is an independent director at Repsol and an independent director of CIE Automotive and Dominion. Ricardo Chocarro is an industrial engineer. With extensive international experience, he has been CEO of Aernnova for seven years, and for 18 years he worked at Gamesa and Siemens Gamesa, where he became CEO of the Onshore business. Previously he worked at Accenture.