Pescanova Board of Directors intends to protect the continuity of the business. (Photo: FIS Stock)

Pescanova requests voluntary creditors' meeting

SPAIN
Friday, April 05, 2013, 23:00 (GMT + 9)

Pescanova requested a voluntary creditors' meeting "in order to preserve the business continuity." The Galician company took this decision given the inability to reach an agreement in the short term during a special meeting lasting over 13 hours with creditor banks in Chapela, Redondela.

According to what the news agency EFE has informed, the multinational company also intends to protect "the affected interests" by the serious financial situation being experienced.

A statement issued by the company to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) reads that its managers have acknowledged that their financial situation presents a "downside risk".

Anyway, Pescanova has "the strong will" to present a proposal during the procedure that would consider its creditors, "ensuring the protection of the rights and interests" of its employees, creditors and shareholders.

The multinational firm also seeks "the ongoing management," it was added in the text addressed to the CNMV.

The council also decided to request the revocation of the appointment of BDO as an auditor for the verification of the 2012 annual accounts of the Spanish firm.

Sources close to Pescanova have stated that BDO did not do a good job when performing the accounting analysis, the newspaper El Pais reported.

"Under the provisions of the section 266 of the Companies Act and on the basis of a just cause, the Board of Directors has resolved to request the competent Commercial Court to revoke the appointment of BDO Auditors," the multinational firm informed.

The auditor has not made any comments in this respect yet.

The company's total debt amounted to EUR 2,500 million, according to the data from the Central Credit Register of the Bank of Spain.

Pescanova called for an extraordinary meeting yesterday, the second one in just three weeks, aiming at the approval of last year’s new financial statements, that is to say, the acknowledged and supposedly hidden debt.

"The council has been convened 'in extremis' late yesterday because Friday is the deadline to have the accounts reformulated and forwarded to the CNMV," said sources familiar with the call to the agency Europa Press.

In addition, in late March, the CNMV decided that the company could deliver the accounts from the second half of 2012 up to 5 April. This deadline meant an extension of the provisions of the first communication, which specified 23 March as the deadline for the multinational firm to make its latest financial statements public, after recognizing a mismatch between the debt that had been audited and the actual one.

Unable to deliver last year’s accounts – the deadline was 28 February -- Pescanova had first requested a creditor’s meeting, seeking to renegotiate the debt with the bank.

Related articles:

- Pescanova Group now dealing with an initial solution
- Pescanova convenes extraordinary meeting to approve financial statements
- Pescanova, more complicated than thought

By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

Print