Pescanova headquarters. (Photo Credit: Pescanova)

Pescanova cancels financial advisor hire





SPAIN


Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 01:00 (GMT + 9)

The multinational firm Pescanova informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on the temporary cancellation of the contract with Houlihan Lokey as financial advisor for restructuring its debt.

Last week this US financial institution had been hired to offer advice regarding the renegotiation of its debt.

On 1 March, the Galician company had requested the acceptance of a creditors’ meeting, the newspaper La Voz de Galicia reported.

“Not having formalized yet all the terms of the contractual relationship with Houlihan Lokey as financial advisor as to the restructure of the debt, and checking they are ratified by the board of directors once 2012 annual accounts are set, Pescanova reports that the hire is temporarily cancelled until the above events have occurred,” the company expressed in the statement sent to the CNMV.

Pescanova has total liabilities of EUR 1,500 million, but this year EUR 203.3 million of its debt is due.

The group of 20 creditor banks evaluates an alternative option: a capital expansion that facilitates the entry or offers greater importance to an industrial partner, after Pescanova requested a syndicated loan of EUR 150 million and asked for a delay of 90 days for the payment of EUR 15 million of that loan.

In addition, it created a new ‘pool’ of banks led by those who continue supporting the postponement of the payment date and that had plans to “shortly” meet with Houlihan Lokey, the agency Europa Press reported.

Meanwhile, Banco Sabadell – the greatest creditor of Pescanova’s — undertook to make “every effort” to resolve the situation “as soon as possible.”

Furthermore, this bank was willing to renegotiate the debt of the Galician multinational firm.

Other creditor banks, such as Novagalicia Bank and Banco Pastor (integrated into Banco Popular), are ready to facilitate the debt renegotiation belonging to Pescanova, since they trust the “firm’s viability.”

Finally, they expressed their “willingness to offer support” for the firm to overcome the bankruptcy situation.

Last week, the brewery Damm, which is the second largest shareholder of Pescanova’s, asked the Spanish multinational firm executives to call for an extraordinary meeting to request more information about their current situation.

Related article:

Damm requests Pescanova further data on current situation

By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com

 Print

Open all references in tabs: [1 – 4]

Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.