The Sepi fund to help strategic companies in difficulty due to the pandemic has already recovered 433 million euros of the nearly 2.7 billion euros dedicated to rescues, according to the state holding company.
The latest figures, announced today, include the anticipated return of 110 million euros throughout 2023. The Salamancan currency exchange company Global Exchange has returned the 45 million euros it received and has become, together with the Ávoris tourism group, helped with 320 million, the only one to settle accounts with Sepi.
During this year, three other companies have returned amounts to the Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies (Fasee), which was created with an endowment of 10,000 million, of which less than a third ended up being used.
Among those that have advanced the payment of the debt, the Barcelona hotel group Hotusa stands out, which has returned 52 million of the 241 million that, according to the latest annual report of the Sepi, were granted between participatory and ordinary loans.
Wamos, an airline specialized in charter flights based in Madrid, has prepaid 8 million euros of the 85 million received, while Meeting Point, which received 31 million, has returned 5.3 million.
These three companies, together with Global Exchange, make up the group of those that have advanced the payment of the debt, which also includes Ávoris, which in 2022 paid off the 320 million euros of the rescue, and Meeting Point, which that same year a partial amortization worth 3.09 million euros. Together they add up to 433 million euros reported by Sepi today.
During the year just ended, another tourism company, Grupo Hotels
The change in the ownership of Celsa has also occurred in 2023, which includes the capitalization of 1,352 million euros by the creditor funds and an agreement that dispenses with the 550 million euros of aid approved by the Council of Ministers in June 2022, before the Sepi fund expired.
Sepi defends the "usefulness of the temporary mechanism", which allowed companies paralyzed by the pandemic to stay afloat and which, as they have later shown, have enjoyed an explosive takeoff, as is the case with tourism or hotel companies.
The fund now finances 26 companies, whose staff, according to Sepi itself, has increased by 20% since the aid was granted, whose repayment period will accelerate in the coming years.
The financing barely includes the payment of interest or a return based on the group's results during the first years. However, it will become significantly more expensive after several years, which could lead to the exchange of debt for shares and the entry of Sepi into the shareholding.
According to the latest annual report from Sepi, some 1.7 billion euros correspond to participatory loans, which are those that can be exchanged for shares. The rest are ordinary loans not subject to this eventuality.
In any case, the casuistry is very wide and so is the level of intervention of the Sepi, which ranges from direct participation in the viability plans of the company, as is the case of Duro Felguera, to support so that the helped group achieve guarantees when competing in international contracts, as is the case with Técnicas Reunidas.
The latest annual report from Sepi shows that Air Europa is the group with the most aid received, with 475 million, ahead of the 320 million already returned from Ávoris and the 241 million partially returned by Hotusa.
Techniques Reunidas also stands out, with 340 million; Duro Felguera, with 120 million; Tubos Reunidos, with 112 million; Air Nostrum, with 111 million, and Volotea, with 200 million.
