Abengoa has tightened the reverse gear timer again in what now seems like its last stoppage time. After the Commercial Judge decreed the dissolution of the parent company on July 1, Abengoa SA, another subsidiary Abenewco 1, which concentrates all the assets and business units of the Sevillian company, struggles to cling to what everyone agrees that it is your last lifeboat to stay afloat. And in that journey against the current, the only option is through the agreement reached by the Government and the Andalusian Government to rescue the business units of the Sevillian company that are profitable, as the Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, has assured. , and the acting Minister of Economic Transformation, Rogelio Velasco, after the meeting held this afternoon in Seville.
“This has been an important meeting where the commitment to search for a solution has come out,” said Maroto, who reported that a technical working group will be created with representatives of Abengoa and the two administrations, which will then political meetings will follow to solve the proposals presented by the former. The first step in that countdown involves the presentation of a new viability and business plan that Abenewco 1 will present as soon as this Tuesday and that will include corrections with respect to the one that was delivered to SEPI. According to what Maroto has indicated, possible new investors will be included in this new proposal and it will be necessary to limit which lines of business they want to save.
In this sense, the fact that the parent company, Abengoa SA, is involved in a liquidation process and has filed an appeal for its dissolution complicates things, because this new rescue group is presented with two interlocutors. However, the minister has been clear: “We have to save the business of the operating companies, those that have a business load.” It will be Abenewco 1 that delimits that perimeter. “You have to be pragmatic”, she has settled, referring to the almost 300 subsidiaries that the company has, many of them without activity and without workers, although she has also specified that the objective is “to reach the maximum”.
At this afternoon’s meeting no specific economic contributions were discussed, beyond the fact that Abengoa representatives have expressed the short-term need for liquidity, according to sources close to the participants. These same sources confirm that the Ministry of Industry has been emphatic that the Junta de Andalucía must involve you financially, as other autonomous governments have done. That was a sine qua non condition on the part of the central Executive, other sources consulted explain, and finally the arm of the regional administration has been twisted, which until now had been reluctant to become economically involved, alleging that it did not have legal tools to inject money into companies. In crisis. “We have a path that we are exploring that requires the authorization of Brussels”, the councilor pointed out. Maroto has also confirmed that the public instruments that are provided must have the authorization of the European Union.
The last float that the company could not hold on to was the aid of 249 million that it had requested from SEPI. Its concession was a sine qua non condition for the Californian fund Terramar to inject 200 million euros to take over 70% of Abenewco 1. The financial deterioration of the multinational determined the state company to deny the funds just a week ago and on Thursday On June 30, the board of directors requested the pre-bankruptcy of almost thirty of the companies of Abenewco 1, the most profitable, in a maneuver to buy time and reach an agreement between the creditors that avoids the bankruptcy and its partition, selling the most profitable business units.
The new viability plan that Abenewco 1 must present as soon as tomorrow, according to the minister, will be based on the one that was presented to SEPI “with corrections”, according to Maroto, and with the premise that they do not even have the 249 million of the state company nor with the 200 of Terramar. Another conditioning factor is that after the end of the bankruptcy moratorium on July 1, any creditor could request bankruptcy proceedings, but the head of Industry has expressed hope that this show of unity between the administrations and the company will generate confidence in the creditors and in the group of banks that are also involved as guarantors.
The meeting called at the request of the Seville City Council was attended by the Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, the Councilor for Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities acting on the Board, Rogelio Velasco; the president of Abenewco 1, Juan Pablo López-Bravo, the bankruptcy administrator Guillermo Ramos, the mayor of the city, Antonio Muñoz and different advisers from the three parties summoned to the meeting. Manuel Ponce, head of the UGT Federation of Industries, Construction and Agriculture, as a member of the Abengoa works council, was also present, invited by the town hall.
After a viacrucis that began in 2015 and that accumulates four failed rescues —with the last one from SEPI—, a succession of presidents and confrontations between the different shareholders, the expectations of this meeting were not too high, but it was expected, as has happened, to find a starting point of some solidity that would allow laying the first stone to lay the foundations for a serious and viable solution.
On the horizon, not only is the survival of a company that remains one of the beacons of industrialization in Andalusia or the prestige of the hackneyed change in the production model that each Government of the Junta promises when it is in power and of which Abengoa was the epitome, if not the future of some 10,000 workers, of which around 2,000 are in this community. The cries of: “Abengoa, solution”, from the hundred employees who have gathered at the doors of the Fibes headquarters where the meeting was held, have accompanied its protagonists upon their arrival and when they have left.
Change of position of the Board
The Government was only willing to get involved if the Board was also involved, but in the latest Abengoa crises, the regional government had put itself in profile. In 2020, it refused to provide 20 million euros in guarantees to which it had committed, alleging that it lacked legal instruments that would allow financial contributions to companies. The acting Andalusian Executive has attacked SEPI’s refusal to grant aid to the Abenewco1 subsidiaries, alleging that it was a political decision, despite the fact that the SEPI report, endorsed by two consultants, is conclusive on the doubts about the viability of the company. Sources close to the negotiating team of the Board have shown their discomfort because the Government has not transferred information about the resolution of the state entity or about its plans for the Andalusian company, although they also acknowledge that the autonomous Executive has not contacted Abengoa either in these weeks. After this afternoon’s meeting, the position of the Board has changed, as pointed out by the Minister for Economic Transformation: “Abengoa is a strategic company, its activities are intensive in new technologies and the regional government is attentive and has the maximum collaborative spirit.
Appeal against the liquidation of the parent company
The refusal of the Board to provide the 20 million in guarantees frustrated the third rescue plan, which also depended on financing by the ICO, a circumstance that led to the parent company entering bankruptcy proceedings in February 2021 and in its liquidation, decreed last Friday.
The judge declared the dissolution of the parent company because the management of Abengoa SA did not present the creditors’ agreement on time. A decision that the council chaired by Clemente Fernández has appealed this Monday presenting an agreement with an offer of 200 million for the business units. Fernández had requested an extension of two months to present the agreement, a term that the judge denied.
