Source: Fish Information and Services
The Mercantile Court No. 3 of Pontevedra, based in Vigo, has set a creditor’s meeting for the cannery Alfageme SA, which has accumulated over EUR 50 million in debt.
This legal proceeding can conclude with an acquittal and postponement of the debts of its creditors or with the liquidation of the Vigo-based firm.
Over the next few days, the insolvency declaration will have to be published in the Official State Bulletin (BOE) to initiate the public portion.
As of that moment, te creditors will have a period of one month to credit any non-payments by part of the company.
The Xunta de Galicia guaranteed loans to Alfageme for more than EUR 40 million, mainly through the Galician Institute of Economic Promotion (IGAPE).
According to reports by La Voz de Galicia, around 350 workers of the four plants of the company assume the loss of the activity in Vigo.
The lands of the Vigo plant could allow the main creditors – Caixanova and Banco Popular – to seek restitution.
The majority of the employees of the four work centres (Vigo, Vilaxoan, Ribadumia and O Grove) contend that the cannery's top management did not know how to manage it during the three years that passed since they acquired it.
In other news, the Galician Government affirmed that it “used every conceivable means to look for a solution.â€
About 70 employees of the Vigo plant – of a total of 140 – will have to attend the 3 May trial lodged for breach of contracts, a proceeding requested weeks before the official declaration of insolvency.
Early this month, the Xunta admitted that four companies – three canneries and a group of investors – are interested in re-floating the Alfagame firm so that it becomes fully operational.
The canneries are Jealsa, Friscos and Orbe. The identity of the group of investors remains unknown.