Abengoa returns to the courts, from where it has never really left. With the parent company in bankruptcy proceedings since last February, the refusal of the public bailout through SEPI –which the day before yesterday declared it ineligible to receive loans for 249 million–, the Sevillian engineering group presented yesterday creditor pre-bankruptcy for 27 companies, where the assets are located and from which 4,500 workers depend. The debt is around 6,000 million.
The company's crisis goes back a long way – the first pre-contest dates back to November 2015 – but after several restructurings, billions of euros in losses and endless business agony, everything remains more or less the same: there is nothing to pay with debt and only public aid and Terramar, a virtually unknown international fund, have kept the flame of hope alive in recent weeks.
Yesterday, the board of directors accepted the pre-contest to formally try to restructure its debt, although the only thing that seems viable is the sale of the productive unit of the companies within the framework of the contest. Save time, because in the next four months all companies are shielded by the judge from creditors, but lose the option of winning contests and hiring third-party services.
The liquidation that was avoided in 2015, 2016 and every year since then despite the stubbornness of the numbers is closer than ever. The shareholders have already lost everything in the successive capital increases and in the stock market debacle. But, as is the tradition with this company, the end will be extended this time, with new chapters in the serial.
The impact of the fall of Abengoa is so important for the Andalusian economy that the political springs were finally activated yesterday. The Junta de Andalucía and the Government have spent months blaming each other for the Abengoa crisis and for the fact that neither of the two administrations has helped the company. Yesterday, a meeting was convened that was attended by representatives of the Board, the Government delegation in Andalusia, the Seville City Council and Reyes Maroto, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.
Abengoa workers celebrated it without ringing the bells on the fly. "Although a little late, we get new air that satisfies us after all the effort of our comrades on the street," José Luis de Miguel Caro, his spokesperson, said yesterday. De Miguel stressed that "we are beginning to see a little light at the end of the tunnel" after "so much illogical news and news that we have not understood about the rescue of Abengoa".
