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Most of the Spanish companies that took advantage of the Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies from QUIET, and that have not yet received a response, are in a critical situation.
They trust their survival to the granting of these aid, so the delay in granting them is causing them serious liquidity and operational problems, as this newspaper has been able to confirm.
In fact, the sources consulted by Invertia indicate that many of them are doomed to impending bankruptcy if the SEPI does not make a move and does not expedite the requested bailouts.
Without the support of SEPI, they cannot launch their paralyzed structures due to the lack of liquidity, to which we must add that many have joined the rescue renegotiation of your debts with the banks and the possible entry of new industrial partners.
Without rescue there is no liquidity, without liquidity there are no projects and without projects there is no agreement with the bank nor new partners. A whiting that bites its tail since in most of these files the SEPI has demanded that the pending restructurings be resolved first so as not to award non-repayable aid.
The Abengoa case
The most paradigmatic case is that of Abengoa and Abenewco. In bankruptcy, the company requested 249 million euros from SEPI in March for its subsidiary that groups its most important assets. A strategy to use this rescued company as a parent company in the future.
The operation is linked to the entry of the fund Terramar which will mainly provide loans and has the approval of the current managers. The problem is that SEPI mistrusts this investor and has requested more offers.
For this, the bank has granted up to four extensions, although to this day there are still no new interested parties to unlock the rescue. In the midst of these negotiations, Abengoa has difficulties every month to pay payroll and meet your suppliers.
Villar Mir and Julià
Grupo Villar Mir is another example of this situation. The company requested last October about 400 million Euros from the fund of the public body, but along the way it has had to ask for the reformulation of its bailout, segregating it into different companies.
In December, the company achieved a six-month extension of Credit Suisse, Societe Generale y Crédit Agricole to pay a credit of 115 million that already expired on June 30 and which the Villar Mir could not cope with.
The situation is critical since the rescue has been stagnant for almost a year at SEPI, which has forced the company to pay its debt with financial entities with cadres of Goya, Rubens and Zurbarán. The pieces belonged to the private collection of the family, considered one of the most important of Spain.
For some time, the strategy of Villar Mir Group It is focused on reducing its indebtedness, which has gone from 1,300 to 250 million euros, and which in this context is part of the company’s divestment plan. They have already sold their stake in OHL to the Amodio group.
However, without the rescue of SEPI, the company remains unviable and is doomed to bankruptcy if they do not arrive soon. the 400 million requested from the public fund.
A third case is that of Julia. The coach company, specialized in tourism services, has not received any news from SEPI for more than six months, after requesting last February an injection of 37.4 million at the bottom.
With an annual turnover of around 350 million euros, Grupo Julià has brands of the stature of Julià Travel, Julià Tours, Julià Coaches, Direct Bus, City Tour Worldwide and Tours & Tickets.
Refusal of the SEPI
The sources of the sector consulted indicate that the rescue is urgent because the current situation is not good and the prospects are worse. Julià has lost a lot of money in the pandemic, without organized trips, with tourism at half gas and Imserso trips paralyzed, the coach business becomes unsustainable.
But are not the only ones. With different needs, practically all companies that have requested rescue and that have not received a response are in a very bad financial situation.
Among them we find Celsa (700 million euros requested), Hotusa (320), Mediapro (230), Our Air (103 million), Shipping Companies Arms (100 million), Wamos (75 million), Hesperia (55 million), Room Mate (52 million), Airtificial (30 million), Serhs (35 million) or Soho (32 million). And so on up to thirty companies.
As Invertia has already told, the SEPI has already made the decision not to rescue to all companies that have applied for funds. The objective is to selectively approve the funds only to companies that are viable in the medium term or that can demonstrate that there is an investor behind.
As this newspaper has learned, the exhaustive analysis of all the bailouts has led to the conclusion that approving all the bailouts would be a mistake and it would only lengthen the agony of some companies.
Few rescues
In other words, SEPI assumes that many companies will not be rescued and that, therefore, most of these must go to bankruptcy. We are talking about companies that were already bankrupt before the Covid and that they have not demonstrated that they can articulate a credible business plan in the medium term with the funds they would receive from the public society.
They are difficult decisions and with a political cost in some companies based in certain territories, but necessary to give credibility to the fund, very touched after the scandals generated by the rescue of Plus Ultra.
Along these lines, a week ago the green light was given to the rescue of Rugui Steel with 25 million for a strategic group based in Soria. The Executive has indicated that this represents 4% of Soria’s GDP. It is also, according to the spokesperson Isabel rodriguez, key to the development of the automotive and naval sector.
Since February 13, only two bailouts have been approved: Rugui Steel and Tubos Reunidos (112.8 million euros). Until that date, only four operations had been approved: Air Europa (475 million) Ávoris-Falcón Travel (320 million), Hard Felguera (120 million) and More Ultra (53 million).
The latter amid accusations of favoring companies related to the Venezuelan Government. Precisely from this scandal, bailouts have been halted and all the files have been reformulated to rescue only really viable companies.
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Reference-www.elespanol.com