Construction giant Sacresa goes bankrupt

Catalan construction company Sacresa files for bankruptcy. It will not be able to pay back its total debt of around 1,800 million euros to various financial entities.

CNA

First published: June 29, 2010 05:21 PM

Barcelona (CNA).- Sacresa, the first real estate group and construction company in Catalonia, says that they will not be able to pay back their debt of 1,800 million euros. They will now be forced to suspend payments and declare bankruptcy. Yesterday, the Sanahuja family owned group filed for bankruptcy at the Mercantile Court No. 2, claiming that the current economic crisis has led the Catalan group into “one of the largest insolvencies in Spain”.
Financial sources explain that the fifteen financial entities in which the family owes some 1,600 million euros consider Sacresa’s viability plan as “incredible”. The group’s viability plan included paying the financial entities a total of 1,000 million euros in assets, cutting 30% of their debt not guaranteed by loans, and having a 5 year delay for bank payments.

In exchange, Sacresa yielded practically all of their assets to the banks, including their share in the exclusive Barcelona mall of L’Illa Diagonal and their main project of Finestrelles, an urban plan to build a new residential neighbourhood, office buildings, a hotel, and a commercial centre over a stretch of 40 hectares in Esplugues de Llobregat.

Sacresa has said of their debt to the financial entities, “there is a scarce possibility that it can be paid”. This viability plan would also not guarantee that the situation would change in two years. The banks have denied the group new credit as they have a total debt of around 500 million euros, with 400 million in mortgages and another 180 million in owed taxes.

Sacresa became the first real estate group in Spain when they attained a total of 85% of Metrovacesa’s assets. This fusion marked the start of the problems with the Catalan group, when in 2008, Sacresa turned over its more emblematic assets to Metrovacesa such as the commercial centres of Las Arenas and Viladecans. The group still possesses some of the best lots in metropolitan area of Barcelona, but also Girona, Madrid, and Almeria.

Economy Bankruptcy Metrovacesa Sacresa