European requirements on single-use plastic items, the coronavirus pandemic and macroeconomic turbulence have sunk Nupik and its subsidiary Sky Paper, specialized in the production of packaging for sectors such as aviation, leisure and catering.
The business, founded in Sabadell in 1950, has entered bankruptcy proceedings with a debt of 56 million euros, of which 33 correspond to Nupik and 23 to Sky Paper.
The owner group, the Italian Dopla – in 2016 it acquired the business from the Enrich, Lincoln and Campo families – tried to reach an agreement to restructure the debt during this summer. But it did not convince the creditors, among which several financial entities (CaixaBank and Banc Sabadell), commercial suppliers, the Tax Agency and the Ministries of Economy (ICO) and Industry (Cofides) stand out.
With this refusal, the company – advised by the Andersen and Castellana 170 Abogados law firms – filed bankruptcy proceedings, which was declared at the beginning of this month by Judge Alfonso Merino, head of commercial court number 4 of Barcelona, ??who in turn appointed Josep Maymí, founding partner and director of the Lexaudit firm, as bankruptcy administrator.
Sources consulted assure that the bankruptcy has been requested with a binding offer for the acquisition of the productive unit, through a mechanism called pre-pack included in the new bankruptcy law. “There is a company interested in acquiring the plastic packaging line and the cardboard packaging line,” comment these sources, adding that the paper pulp packaging line would go into liquidation. The offer of this company – whose identity they prefer not to reveal – presents requirements regarding employment and is articulated through the acquisition of two production units, one for plastic and the other for cardboard.
This company’s offer may not be the final one, since a period now opens that allows third parties to present their offer. The judge will decide which of them is the most beneficial for the contest. Based in Polinyà (Vallès Occidental), Nupik and Sky Paper employ 163 people and have assets valued at 12 million euros. Last year’s turnover was close to 27 million euros. It is a figure that is far from the 55 million that the business invoiced in 2019.
