Source: La Voz de Galicia
Regional Minister Javier Guerra during a meeting with the plant workers
The deadline for companies interested in submitting their bids to buy the Galician canning group Alfageme concluded last Monday. Alfageme has two canning factories, in Ribadumia and Vilaxoán, and is the producer of the tuna and other canned seafood brand MIAU.
Up to September, the only the Cantabrian “Consorcio†canning group had submitted a bid to purchase the factories. The group’s bid was submitted already more than a year ago to the Commercial Court which is handling the Alfageme’s bankruptcy process. The bid was ratified before the Xunta.
At the very last minute, the Galician group Pescamar, based in Poio, also submitted a bid. According to sources from Pescamar, the group decided to bid on the two canneries to help strengthen the Galician canning business. It also believes the two factories will complement the firm’s activities.
There is currently no knowledge of further official bids, however the Galician Department of Finance confirmed that it has expended the deadline for the sale of Alfageme for another few days, which will still leave room for new proposals coming in the mail and pending the analysis of bids submitted for the allocation of the canning firm and its brands.
Once the final closing date has been reached, the Regional Minister Javier Guerra announced that Igape – the Galician Economic and Industrial department - would advise within five days which of the bids is the best among the submitted. One of the main criteria for the sale is that the buyer is able to guarantee the 150 consolidated jobs, providing adequate safeguards to ensure that these positions are provided. That decision will be moved to court for the final word on the awarding of the bid and the transfer of the Ribadumia and Vilaxoán tuna canneries to the winning company.
So, the future of the factories in question should be resolved within a few days and start a new phase aimed at restoring production and, consequently, maintaining jobs.
The competition driven by Igape was intended to sell the factories to a company from another sector and thus rule out any speculative intent to obtain these two plants and storage space located in a very good urbanity area. With that idea in mind, Igape established requirements for the purchase, such as a minimum of ten years experience in the processing sector and minimum staff of one hundred workers. Furthermore, the company that acquires the Afageme factories is obliged to maintain a capital of not less than Euro 2 million during a period of not less than ten years and, above all, recruit and maintain –during a minimum of five years from the dated of acquisition- a workforce of 150 workers.
