However, the bank led by Miguel Maia will remain one of Inaba's largest creditors. In 2022, credits worth 86 million euros were registered. Before the announcement of the possible insolvency, the bank was trying to sell this credit.
Recently it was As reported by the Echo newspaper That BCP had offered this exposure (or almost all of it) for sale in a package of problematic debts that combined the credits granted to Inapa with the debts of the promoter of the Autódromo do Algarve (Parkalgar). But this was not the first time that the BCP had tried to offload Inapa’s credits – and the company’s now-declared bankruptcy could put the potential deal in doubt.
Although still a 6.5% shareholder, Novo Banco's credit exposure will be lower than that of BCP and BES in the time period.
At the end of last year, Inaba had 273.7 million euros in financial obligations, of which 176 million euros were in bank credit. There are also bond loans that will not be repaid, at least within the legal deadline.
The executives who led the company have also left the Banco Centrale Popular, such as José Félix Morgado, who was in office between 2007 and 2015, and the general manager who has now resigned. Frederico Lupi He was a director at BCP until 2015, the year he joined Inaba's management as operations area director, having been appointed CEO last year. Between 2015 and 2023, Inaba was directed by Diogo RezendeIt is a plate that came from the Ford Motor Company.
Frederico Lupi was appointed chairman of Inaba’s executive committee in 2023, following the departure of Diogo Rezende, who had been his right-hand man. Rezende went to Inaba in 2015 to replace José Félix Morgado (who had then left for Montepio), and in May 2022, shareholders reappointed him to stay until 2024 – but he ended up leaving in June 2023.
Diogo Rezende's departure came shortly after the appointment of the Executive Committee Chairman. During the general shareholders' meeting, Pedro Baltazar (of the Nova Expressão group) asked him if betting on Papyrus was “the right decision”. “Yes,” replied Diogo Rezende, “and the acquisition has demonstrated its potential to create value, despite the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
A few days later, the manager left for “personal reasons.”
When the acquisition was made in Germany, in 2018, Inapa had just suffered the highest losses in the last six years (3.6 million), a result that was justified at the time by “the market collapse, the strongest in the last ten years,” said Diogo Rezende in an interview with Jornal de Negocios. So we chose a journey forward: buying a large German company in the sector, such as Papyrus Deutschland.
Diogo Rezende stressed that it would be “an operation of enormous impact because Papyrus Deutschland's turnover is 550 million” and it was expected that with this addition, Inapa's business would grow to 1,400 million. The goal was not achieved: in 2023, Inapa's turnover fell below 1 billion euros.
This is in the absence of strong capital. Highly leveraged investment in debtwhich condemned Inapa to spend the following years “on a knife’s edge,” says a source familiar with the sector, always in a difficult position due to the low margins of the business that can easily go bankrupt when the company is burdened with debt. “Eatten” by financial costs. Previously, investments in France also helped to unbalance the capital structure. The company needed capital, but it did not have shareholders willing to invest it.
Another source heard by the observer indicates that Paper distribution is a very demanding business and is very exposed to transportation and fuel costs. When it comes to raw materials, they are granular, but highly concentrated in conversion and spread out again in distribution, which is the Inapa sector. What can maximize profits is the strong cellulose industry.
Inapa was at one of the weakest links in the value chain and this fragility was becoming increasingly apparent even to its main financiers. It had been a long time coming. It is viewed by banks as an unsound company.This is due to its failure to achieve the objectives of all the strategic plans it presented. There is no doubt that the large geographical dispersion has made the real perception of the group’s position more complicated. On the other hand, it has allowed Inaba to access many bank financiers in these markets, making its debts (although large) very dispersed and with relatively limited exposure to each creditor.
The government ensures that it was only aware of all such requests – and He was only aware of the “critical situation.” Where was Inapa – after it became known on July 11 that the company had warned the market that it would have to postpone (for 10 business days) the repayment of bonds issued specifically to pay for investments in Germany, which were made in 2018 and due to the lack of solid capital, this was done mainly through the issuance of debt.
An Inaba source confirmed to the Observer newspaper that The administration never met with the government.who only wanted to have Parpública as an interlocutor. Following this announcement of the postponement of the payment of obligations, the CMVM ordered the suspension of trading in the shares, as the government “on its own initiative” called Parpública to a meeting, and was then informed that Inaba “requested an injection of 12 million euros immediately”.
Opinions were requested from Detained The State, the General Directorate of Treasury and Finance (DGTF) and the Technical Unit for Monitoring and Control of the Public Business Sector (UTAM)” and the three parties concluded that “The proposal did not meet the solid conditions.It also did not prove the economic and financial feasibility that would guarantee repayment from the state.”
Minutes after the clarifications provided by the Ministry of Finance, the Minister of Economy, Pedro Reis, confirmed that “It is important to ensure that taxpayers' money is cared for and protected. In making decisions on restructuring the company, after being questioned about Inaba's insolvency application.
“I would just like to say one thing only and exclusively: it is very important to ensure that taxpayers’ money is taken care of and protected every time decisions are made regarding corporate restructuring, regarding corporate support,” Pedro Reis stated, adding that “often It is easier to ask for popular support, but it is necessary to see the public interest.And evaluate his place.
The European leader in its category, according to the website, Inapa delivers around seven hundred thousand tons of paper per year, distributed on more than 400 trucks handled daily, and on average, makes five thousand deliveries per day. Inapa has 37 warehouses and logistics platforms, with a storage area of around 200 thousand square meters.
Globally, the company employs approximately 1,500 people, spread across 10 countries and around 20 subsidiaries ranging from paper distribution to packaging and visual communications. The main markets are France and Germany, which account for around two-thirds of the group’s revenues. The company is also present in Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Angola, Austria and the Benelux, as well as Portugal, where it employs 196 people, according to the latest information available (relating to 2023) – with warehouses in the Sintra region and further north in Santa Cruz do Bispo.
In 2015, it was considered the most internationalized Portuguese company.
Last year, its sales amounted to 969 million euros, down 20% compared to the previous year when its sales exceeded 1.2 billion euros. In 2023, Inaba also suffered a loss of eight million euros after a profit of 17.8 million euros the previous year.
In addition to the lack of economic and financial viability of the financial support requested from the state, the Ministry of Finance weighed the fact that the administration had not presented “any recovery strategy” and that Parapublica was not the largest shareholder. The refusal, which had already been defended, confirmed Detained The support required. The ministry, headed by Joaquim Miranda Sarmiento, says that “Inaba is a private company, and does not have an activity that is considered strategic for the Portuguese economy.”
Parapublica remained silent.
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