Qualifications
Antoni Brufau holds a Bachelor degree in economics from the University of Barcelona and a Master degree in economics from the IESE Business School.
Career
After completing his studies, Antoni Brufau began his career as a managing partner at the international auditing company Arthur Andersen.
In 1988, Brufau joined La Caixa as a co-director, responsible primarily for industrial business of the Group. In 1997, he was appointed as a Chairman of the Gas Natural Group, where the Caixa Group and Repsol (35.3% and 30% accordingly) hold a large stock of shares. He served as a CEO of Gas Natural until 2004.
In 1996, Brufau joined the Board of Directors of Repsol YPF. In 2004, he became a CEO of the Repsol Group and undertook a major restructuring of the company, selling off substantial parts of Repsol assets in Latin America. Under his leadership, Repsol began to focus more on OECD countries. After Brufau took over, the company’s debt had been significantly reduced; the amount of sales had increased to $70 billion, and the share price had doubled. Repsol became one of the leading oil and gas companies in the world.
Anecdotes
Antoni Brufau is a President of the Repsol Foundation and a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists. He is a Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gas Natural Group. In 2010, he received an honorable “Entrepreneur of the Year” award from the Federation of Spanish Chambers of Commerce in Europe (FEDECOM) for his achievements at Repsol.