Uncertainty until the last moment. The so-called decarbonization hub maintained doubts about the guarantees it needs to be able to carry out its manufacturing project in the old Nissan facilities until the last minute.
Its promoters informed the Ministry of Industry on Monday that they have collected guarantees for some 50 million euros, almost 40% less than what was required to receive all the aid assigned to them by Perte. Even so, except for surprises or unexpected problems in the processing, the project will be able to go ahead, although with a smaller investment, according to sources familiar with the negotiation.
Those 50 million correspond to the leading companies of the hub, QEV and BTech, which according to the initial plan had to raise 80 million. Consequently, they have adjusted the investment, postponing some initiatives pending access to the second call of the Perte next year.
QEV and BTech attend together with 14 other companies, mostly SMEs. This group has indeed gathered the corresponding guarantees, which add up to an approximate amount of 18 million.
In total, the Perte (Strategic Plan for Economic Recovery and Transformation) assigned 107.8 million to the hub between grants and loans. It is the most relevant industrial project that has been achieved in the reindustrialization table created to relocate the dismissed from Nissan, who are already beginning to exhaust unemployment benefits.
The hub, which had proposed an investment of 300 million euros, has been forced to cut its ambitions due to difficulties in finding endorsements from private entities. The refusal of the Ministry of Industry to accept the guarantees for an amount of 40 million provided by the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) raised fears a few days ago for the continuity of the project.
Among the entities that guarantee are the Andorran company Andank with just over 30 million euros; CaixaBank, with 5 million, and Banc Sabadell, with around 1.5 million. Sabadell was willing to participate with 10 million, but backed down after revealing that it doubled the contribution of CaixaBank. Abanca and the insurer Caser have also joined, while two individuals contribute 1 million each.
In the coming days, the Consorci de la Zona Franca should proceed to award the Nissan space to the Goodman real estate logistics group, which has entered the contest with an agreement with the hub. Goodman is the only candidate to be awarded the management of the space, renting it out to other companies.
