Pescanova SA, the Spanish fishing company trying to avoid liquidation, offered creditors a larger equity stake in exchange for additional capital under a modified restructuring proposal.
The plan proposed by shareholders Damm SA, the Spanish brewer, and Luxempart SA, allows lenders up to 65 percent of shares in a restructured business, up from 35 percent in the original proposal published March 4, according to a filing yesterday. The share sale seeks as much as 62.5 million euros ($86.2 million) in capital, with lenders having to accept average losses of 60 percent to 90 percent on their debt.
The operator of fish farms and processing plants from Spain to Chile, as well as more than 90 ships, must win agreement from more than 50 percent of creditors to carry out the restructuring plan. Auditors found Pescanova had more than double the amount of debt previously reported after it filed for creditor protection in April, prompting a fraud investigation.
Should the new proposal be approved by the court, it will be submitted to a creditors’ vote.
The restructuring plan groups all of Pescanova’s Spanish units apart from Novapesca Trading into a new company, according to the March 4 regulatory filing. It excludes international units and aims to cut debt to 812.5 million euros.
The debt will be split between senior and junior tranches held by lenders totaling 700 million euros, while 112.5 million euros of super senior debt will be held by Damm, Luxempart and other creditors, according to the March 4 filing.
Protecting Spanish Units
Pescanova’s Spanish units will seek creditor protection by April 10 as part of the restructuring plan, according to a letter from the company’s court-appointed administrator Deloitte LLP included in the revised plan.
Pontevedra, Galicia-based Pescanova borrowed from more than 100 lenders, including Banco Sabadell SA, Banco Popular Espanol SA, CaixaBank SA, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Bankia SA and NCG Banco SA, according to a list of creditors prepared by Deloitte.
Founded in 1960, Pescanova developed the world’s first fishing boat equipped with a freezer, allowing the company’s boats to trawl waters around Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. The company expanded to operate fisheries and processing facilities from Nicaragua to Japan and Namibia.
Pescanova had 3.25 billion euros of net debt at the end of 2012, according to a Dec. 10 statement by Deloitte. First-half results from 2012 reported financial debt was 968 million euros at the end of June.
