The third section of the Mercantile Court of Seville has confirmed the award of the assets and liabilities of the Abengoa companies in bankruptcy to the Spanish company Cox Energy. The judge thus rejects the appeals filed by Urbas and a group of creditors against the transfer of the Andalusian group’s assets to the firm of businessman Enrique Riquelme, considering that they are unfounded.
Urbas threatened a lengthy judicial process since he considered that Cox Energy’s offer had been submitted after the deadline and that it contained an irregular price distribution that violated the Bankruptcy Law, in addition to violating the prohibition of financial assistance. The company also maintained that its offer was “the best and the only one” that guaranteed the viability of the Sevillian multinational, since it maintained employment and business due to the “greater projection” of the group. However, the judge now refutes such arguments and asserts that Cox Energy neither submitted the improved offer after the deadline nor committed “any legal infraction.”
The award was also appealed by HSBC, PLC and the AIM and Signature funds, Abengoa’s creditors, who believed that several articles of the Bankruptcy Law had been infringed. In fact, they understood that they were deprived of the right to veto “regarding the transfer of the assets and encumbered rights included in the Cox offer.”
However, the judge recalls that the appellants are especially privileged creditors, although with a difference in rank, which determines the preference in payment. In addition, he emphasizes that “it is contrary to the purpose and spirit of the rule to require the consent of those who do not waive any guarantee.” In the order, the magistrate assures that the allegations presented could “delay and hinder the resolution on the offer.”
The award to Cox Energy puts an end to a process that began when the Solvency Fund, which is managed by the State Company for Industrial Participations (Sepi), ruled out granting Abengoa the aid it requested. With this, the parent company, Abengoa SA, went into liquidation, while some thirty companies were put up for tender so that other companies could present offers for the whole or for each one of them.
