Zara doveva qualche mln alle venete
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A fund designed to relaunch companies in distress following the
bail-in of Veneto Banca and Banco Popolare di Vicenza is considering to invest into Pasta Zara after the group filed for an in-court debt restructuring called
concordato at the Treviso Tribunal, sources familiar with the matter told Reorg Research.
The fund dubbed “Fondo Giano” will be backed by Veneto Sviluppo, a venture capital firm established by Regione Veneto to foster the economical development of the region. The fund aims to raise around €400 million (€100 million by September 2018) and will invest in companies from Veneto with revenue over €30 million through capital injections of around €10 million for each business.
Pasta Zara will have to present by Oct. 8 either a definitive
concordato proposal or the request to implement a debt restructuring agreement, according to a
court document. In order to do this, the Treviso Tribunal has appointed the three judicial commissioners Marco Parpinel, Lorenza Danzo and Danilo Porrazzo.
Pasta Zara currently has a gross financial debt of €241 million - €73 million of which are toward Veneto Banca and Banco Popolare di Vicenza and therefore now in the bad bank Sga’s portfolio. FFAUF, the Bragagnolo family’s holding company, has a €50 million debt toward Bank of China.
Reorg
reported on May 3 that Pasta Zara’s lenders requested an independent business review, or IBR, of the highly indebted Italian company. The pasta producer also requested €5 million of capex facilities and €10 million of working capital facilities from its lenders, .
As
reported, the company also approached investment funds to request about €15 million of new money to be used as liquidity for its current operations but did not provide any guidance as to how the deal will be structured.
Pasta Zara’s banks include Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Banca Mediocredito Del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza (both now
part of Intesa Sanpaolo).
Reorg
reported in February that the group, advised by Deloitte, was sounding out investment funds’ availability for potential partnerships with the business. At the end of December, the Treviso-based pasta maker
started a debt-restructuring process.
Pasta Zara reported net debt of €181.4 million at the end of 2016, up from €168.5 million in 2015, with leverage of 9.1x at the end of the year on the basis of €19.8 million EBITDA (margine operativo lordo). At year-end 2016, €55.2 million of net debt was current and €126.1 million was long term.
In 2015, the company also
issued a five-year €5 million minibond paying a 6.5% coupon. The business had €11.2 million of cash and cash equivalents at 2016 year-end, down from €12.2 million at the end of 2015.
The pasta maker is struggling as its production capacity has significantly outpaced market demand. The ongoing process will involve a recalibration of the group’s production capacity as well as a debt-restructuring procedure which could be implemented using article 182-bis of Italy’s bankruptcy law, sources said.
In its
company profile, the group says it is the top Italian exporter of pasta with 13% of total exports and the second-largest pasta manufacturer after Barilla. The company is also the third-largest durum wheat miller in Italy. Pasta Zara declined to provide any comment when contacted by Reorg.
In 2016, Pasta Zara’s revenue declined 16% year over year to €239.5 million from €284.9 million in 2015, while EBITDA grew 28% year over year to €19.8 million. Approximately 78% of the company’s revenue comes from outside of Italy.
Pasta Zara has been run by the Bragagnolo family for four generations. FFAUF, the vehicle owned by the Bragagnolo family, controls 74.8% of the group, while other shareholders include Simest (14.86%), a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in the development and promotion of Italian enterprises abroad, and Friulia (10.34%), a private equity investment arm of Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia specializing in middle market and mature companies.