Abengoa has informed the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) that Ernst & Young has requested the 3rd section of the Commercial Court of Seville to suspend the powers of the board of directors. E&Y, at the request of the judge, is in charge of the bankruptcy administration of the company (with more than 5 billion in debt). In addition, E&Y – the insolvency administration – has requested that…
Abengoa would have demanded the Solvency Support Fund for Strategic Companies from the Spanish government, a tool designed to help companies affected by the pandemic, for the rescue of its company Abenewco 1, to which it transferred the most valuable assets and activities of the broken parent company. The group would try to preserve these assets and to keep operating a subsidiary in which almost 13,000 employees are still working.
This operation will serve as compensation for the creditors and suppliers who will assume the removal and capitalization of Abengoa debt. The companies up for sale should be transferred within a year. Most of them are projects which have had the “for sale” sign on them for a while, and their valuation has deteriorated. In 2019, the 10 main assets had a net book value of €1.557 Bn and a negative impact compared to 2018 of €118 M. This is in line with the restructuring agreement approved on August 6.
Abengoa’s risk profile was already very high but this has been aggravated to the point where there is no possibility of business continuity due to the situation resulting from the Covid-19. Abengoa and the banks are negotiating against the clock to find a solution that will allow the company to receive 300 million euros before July 31 and avoid bankruptcy proceedings.
Abengoa will not complete the partial monetization of the arbitration filed by one of its subsidiaries against Spain for the cut in premiums to renewables applied by the Government in the previous years, after having received a financing offer of up to 50 million euros.
Abengoa will begin construction of an inverse osmosis desalination plant of 909,000 cubic metres per day in Taweelah (UAE), which will be the largest plant of this kind of technology in the world. The project is valued at more than $700 M (623 M€), of which $243 M (216 M€) corresponds to Abengoa over the next 3 years, according to the Sevilla-based firm´s communication to the regulator (CNMV).
Ana Fuentes | “The European project is suffering an identity crisis” affirms Josep Piqué, former Spain’s Foreign Minister who now sits on the boards of Abengoa and Seat. “If Europe loses solidarity, it disappears as a political subject. We are at this crossroads. We don´t lack ideas, we lack the leadership and political capacity to implement them.
Abengoa has presented its 10 year viability plan. The company anticipates to reach a turnover of 2.86 billion euros in 2023 and 4.202 billion euros in 2028. Moreover, its portfolio of will increase from 1.75 billion euros in 2019 to 4.01 billion euros in 2028, thanks to identified projects, whose value rises to almost 30 billion euros.
Abengoa has been chosen as the technological partner for the construction of the biggest solar complex in the world in Dubai. The size of the contract to be directly executed by Abengoa is $650 million (some 550 million euros).
It seems Abengoa has reached an agreement with its main creditors who did not accept the plan (Liberty, Zurich and Exim US) to refinance its existing debt with a new bond issue under the same economic terms as the former senior debt but with a maturity date of six months earlier (up to March 2022).