Invermar farm. (Photo: Invermar)
CHILE
Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 02:10 (GMT + 9)
The BCI bank has informed that all creditors of Invertec Pesquera Mar de Chiloe (Invermar) decided to accept an agreement to reduce the company's debt to USD 69.9 million. This implies a "cut" of 55.18 per cent, taking into account that the salmon company maintained bank obligations for about USD 155.28 million.
The salmon company linked to brothers Mario and Alberto Montanari must agree with Salmofood provider according to the requirement of Alimentos Marinos (Alimar), with which Invermar signed a purchase commitment contract.
It is worth recalling that Salmofood, food provider company, has been accumulating a large debt for not cancelling it services for several years. Sources close to the issue indicated that negotiations will begin next week and should end before 20 March.
With this background, Alimar, the acquiring firm will launch this Wednesday a public offer to purchase shares ending on 19 September.
Considering the conditions imposed by the firm headed by Roberto Izquierdo, the task has not been easy. This is because after the announcement of the agreement between the companies, released on 30 January, Alimar identified as key condition that Invermar should achieve a creditor bank agreement reducing its debt up to a ceiling of USD 69.6 million, with a deadline before 18 February, the day fixed as the last to launch a takeover bid.
In short, the bank accepted this scheme because if the public offer is completed successfully, Alimar will immediately cancel the amount owed to them. This is much faster than the process involving the declaration of insolvency, and allows for the recovery of a greater percentage of credits.
Diario Financiero reported that the price of the public offer - set in USD 0.07271333 per share - would represent a premium equivalent to 17.4 per cent over Invermar’s market price.
The newspaper also informed that Alimar is considering reorganizing Invermar, in order to delist it or sell its assets to a company to continue the course of activities.