Caher, a marketing company at the point of sale that is owned by Javier Rotllant and Salvador Arsuaga and is 30% owned by Suma Capital, has suspended payments in the Barcelona courts with debts of nearly 30 million euros. The reason is not a usual solvency crisis caused by difficulties in the business or over-indebtedness, but "an embezzlement by the financial director together with some audits that were not signed and were not communicated to management," Rotllant explained yesterday to this diary.
The matter was discovered on July 28 and what came later worsened that initial picture of doubts and suspicions in which all the figures were put into question. The deception reached extremes rarely seen in similar cases. For example, the Mercantile Registry contains at least one audit report from BDO Auditores, signed by the audit partner in Barcelona, Ignacio Algás, which this professional never prepared. The report, which includes his signature as required, is absolutely false. Yesterday, the auditor, who could soon initiate legal action, refused to comment on the call from this newspaper.
With false accounts and a worse reality than was presumed, the creditor bank exploded and financial tensions soon arrived. Immediately, an investigation began trying to limit the dimension of the problem, for which a forensic report was commissioned from KPMG in August. Aside from confirming the accounting falsity, with higher sales and profits than declared, the audit report has concluded that the company's money is missing, presumably diverted in favor of some administrators.
Suma Capital, who yesterday chose not to speak, has filed a lawsuit against Sergio Herrejón, former financial director and former director, and against Arsuaga, who, in addition to being a partner, is joint and several CEO together with Rotllant. Herrejón no longer works at Caher and has also left the board of directors, where the two majority partners and two representatives of Suma Capital remain. The complaint of the Barcelona fund manager chaired by Enrique Tombas was presented last week and has not yet been admitted for processing.
On the other hand, KPMG has received the order, which has already been running for weeks, to find a buyer for the production unit and thus save the business and the around 1,300 jobs. Predictably, once the sale is completed, the company will be liquidated, although in bankruptcy, presented by Arraut
In theory, there should be no shortage of buyers for the business in a transaction that, thanks to the new bankruptcy reform, can be carried out at any time. Caher is a leading outsourcing firm in its sector, with 10 delegations throughout Spain and Portugal, 18 warehouses and 500 vehicles. The company accompanies manufacturers from the warehouse to the distribution shelves. Its clients include Danone, Heineken, LG, Coca-Cola, L'Oréal and HP, among many others.
Apparently, the business was going from strength to strength, although the truth is that the pandemic took its toll. Caher explained last year that he had billed 30.5 million in 2020, a year in which he acquired the online marketing company Winchannel and in which he expected to raise his income to 37 million, with a gross operating profit (ebitda) of 5 million. Now it is known that all figures are inflated.
Despite that, the business has value for sure. Before the outbreak of the crisis, the company had advanced its sale to a French investor. Now, there have already been some signs of interest, but the company will probably go into liquidation to sell the business and pay off its debts, to pay off where the money goes. The dividends received by the shareholders have been returned for coming from a bloated, false distributable profit. The relationship between the different partners and still directors is very tense and the legal battle is presumed to be tough.
