The president and chief executive of CAF, José María Baztarrica, has “voluntarily” resigned from all his positions in the company, which he had been holding for 24 years, since 1991, according to the railway manufacturer.
The new chairman, like the outgoing one, has spent his entire professional life at CAF, where he has been CEO since July 2006.
CAF faces the first change in its leadership in more than two decades and “opens a new stage” while awaiting the bid for one of Renfe’s largest train contracts, also in decades. An order for 30 AVE trains valued at around 2,600 million euros.
Baztarrica has submitted his resignation voluntarily, according to the company, at the meeting of the board of directors held this Tuesday, which, after thanking him for his “dedication and valuable contribution to the development of society”, has unanimously approved appointing him honorary president of the company.
Subsequently, CAF’s board has agreed to appoint the current CEO as chairman, considering that he has “accredited professional capacity and professional and human qualities”.
new stage
In a statement, the train manufacturer pointed out that this change marks the opening of a “new stage” in which the new president promised to “continue working with the aim of developing and strengthening a business project that is the pride of the employees and shareholders”.
Currently, CAF obtains more than 80% of its income from abroad. In addition to being aware of Renfe’s ‘macro contract’, the manufacturer already has in its portfolio and is currently working on orders such as the supply of commuter trains for the Italian cities of Trieste and Bari, for Sao Paulo (Brazil) and for Euskotren.
CAF also currently manufactures trains for the United States and for Saudi Arabia; trams for the cities of Houston, Cincinnati, Kansas, Boston, Freiburg, Tallinn, Budapest, Saint Etienne, Utrecht and Luxembourg, and metro units for Bucharest, Medellín, Santiago de Chile, Istanbul and Helsinki.
internationalization
In a statement, CAF highlighted that this internationalization of the group is the result of the strategic plan that Baztarrica launched when he took over the company in 1991, along with shareholder stability, which was achieved with the support of the then Basque savings banks and the instrumental company that channels the participation of employees.
“José María Baztarrica has been a permanent example for all and essential architect of the recovery, transformation and growth of a company that has been able to project itself from Guipúzcoa to any corner of the world”, according to the new president.
Similarly, the entire board praised the work of the outgoing chairman, who in turn thanked the shareholders for the trust they had placed in him for more than two decades to “lead an exciting and complex project, which has enabled the prestige and value of the company thanks to the commitment of all employees”.
In addition to the Beasain factory, CAF has another nine factories located in Zaragoza, Linares, Lérida, Irún and Castejón, as far as Spain is concerned, and in France, the United States, Mexico and Brazil, abroad.