Jos? El?as, the great savior of Bar?a
The great savior of Bar?a. Businessman and entrepreneur in equal parts, Jose Elijah Navarro (1976, Badalona) is the owner of three Ibex companies and some others. And now the last to sign an endorsement that unlocks the future of Bar?a and opens a new stage full of unknowns, risk and illusion, precisely the preferred playing field of an unusual businessman but with proven solvency. “I will be the last to sign, so I will sign whatever is missing”, he advanced before the final signature of the guarantee of 124.6 million euros for the accounts of Bar?a. El?as confesses himself “a great admirer and follower of Joan Laporta“and that is why you want to be” behind “your project with your heritage.
Jose Elijah in the future it will be the object of attention that it has not enjoyed in the past. It is not part of the Catalan business ‘establishment’ and its notoriety always comes more from the facts than from speeches or positions defended in the usual business forums. Your parent company is Audax (It has 66% of the capital), a vertically integrated energy firm that has profitably understood the inexcusable nature of renewable energies. It has been a few years since the firm exceeded 1,000 million in turnover and weathered the storm of last year with a net profit of 26.4 million euros, 3.8% more, and a turnover of 969,300 million.
The vice president of the Audax group, Eduard Romeu, will be a member of the juntaHe will contribute his own financial resources and will also personally supervise the efficiency of the financial contribution and that it is not wasted. “I am aware of the risks that I assume,” he assured yesterday in the face of direct allusions and the question of the reasons that lead him to endorse the ‘Laporta project. “” I keep my promise, “he replies.
He explains that the day he hired Eduard Romeu, he made four requests of him; a salary of 500,000 euros, being able to go everywhere by taxi, being able to live in a hotel and that if the company exceeded one billion euros in turnover, it would support him to be president or join the board of Bar?a. None of the requests was accepted except the last one, El?as acknowledges, since at that time it sounded like an entelechy to achieve that growth. “But Eduard Romeu is a financial genius and we managed to exceed 1,000 million. The first thing that happened is that Eduard knocked on the door of my office to remind me of the promise.” El?as acknowledges that he has been in contact with Laporta for a year and a half. And to fulfill their promise, he and Eduard chose a winning bid.
“Wizard of Finance”
“But it doesn’t make sense for me to put my money into a project that I don’t control,” acknowledges El?as. It is not Audax, he insists, who takes the risk. It is El?as, who, since he cannot enter the board, delegates to Romeu the supervision of the proper use of the resources contributed. “Eduard is an emotional man, of unlimited cul? sentiment and a financial wizard. He is the best person to refinance Bar?a’s debt. I keep my promise to help him and I am capable of assuming the financial risk, but not the sporting one. No I have no idea about football. Eduard and I are the same. ”
To be the last to sign is to assume that in the end he is the great savior of Bar?a. In return, he acknowledges having already received the first income. “Until today few knew me and did not talk about Audax.” Faced with the distrust of his interlocutor, he clarifies: “It is possible that my companies benefit from the revenue from my connection with Bar?a, already at this time, but if anything we will benefit thanks to Bar?a, but not from Bar?a’s businesses,” he promises. “The ‘Llotja’ of the Bar?a is different from the box of the Bernab?u”, assures. He thinks that “in Madrid you drive a Ferrari and doors open for you, while in Barcelona we try to be the poorest in the meeting.
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El?as is the self-made man who approaches Bar?a’s gigantic machinery and will have a hard time maintaining his current life. And that also enjoys anonymity. “Every day I do the same, I go to have breakfast at the 2.5 euro bar,” he confessed a couple of years ago. He defines himself as a “frustrated architect.” He did three subjects but had to reinvent himself with the death of his father at the age of 19. He likes to design houses with the help of qualified architects, houses with personality and their stamp of eccentric features. “Everyone is obsessed with taking that part of my life from me and it turns out that it is one of the ones I like the most,” he admitted recently in an informal conversation.
Industrial technical engineer, electrical specialty, by the UPC, must now face an adventure perhaps incompatible with his mimetic affability. Another of his hobbies is also high-flying, the kind that takes you away from the ordinary citizen. He has his own aeronautical company and often pilots his own helicopter over Barcelona. In moments of disruption, a champion of the unpredictable is drawn around Bar?a, fond of finding imaginative solutions to situations that would distress the majority.
) and sees that his business benefits from being connected to us. Let's hope Romeu is the financial genius that Elias said he is.
