Today, Juan-Miguel Villar Mir has announced that he will leave OHL’s Chairmanship and Board of Directors over the next few days, proposing as his successor, to the company’s Appointments and Remuneration Committee, Juan Villar-Mir de Fuentes, who is currently vice-chairman of the concessions and construction group. 

Villar Mir made this announcement during his speech at the Annual General Meeting 2016, which was the first to receive this relevant piece of news from OHL’s chairman. 

The reason why the announcement is so relevant is because Villar Mir has held this position for 29 years -first in Obrascón and then in OHL for the last 17 years- the same period of time the concessions and construction group has been in force since it was created in 1999. 

After Lain joined, Juan-Miguel Villar Mir, at the end of the 20^th century, culminated a business group which, albeit founded on three historic construction brands -Obrascón, Huarte and Lain (OHL)- was in fact the outcome of merging eleven sector companies. 

In the current century, under the guidelines of Juan-Miguel Villar Mir, OHL has become one of Spain’s most internationalized construction companies, present in 30 countries all over the world, where more than 96% of its total EBITDA is generated as well as 82.6% of its revenues. 

Villar Mir, who is now 84 years old, holds a PhD in Civil Engineering and a Degree in Law. He has combined his academic work (as a university professor since he was 36) with politics (vice-president for Economic Affairs and Minister of Finance in Spain’s first government under the Monarchy), with his chairmanship of outside companies (to include, Altos Hornos de Vizcaya and Electra de Viesgo), along with his own company group, Grupo Villar Mir, which, incorporated 29 years ago, employs more than 30,000 people in 37 countries all over the world and invoices approximately 6,500 million euros. 

His resignation and proposed chairmanship in favor of his son, Juan Villar-Mir de Fuentes, will trigger OHL’s succession process, as he himself had foreseen and announced some time ago. This will enable an orderly transition, as the next chairman has worked as vice-chairman for the last 10 years, playing an outstanding role in the Concessions division, which has become the Group’s most dynamic division under his chairmanship.