A debt restructuring deal has closed that could serve as a benchmark for financial deals of a similar size. Focus Investments SpA, a company set up by Prelios in November 2015 for the purpose of separating the real estate business activities from those relating to services, has recently announced the terms and structure of debt restructuring corporate.
What does the debt restructuring agreement provide?
The agreement provides for the restructuring of the financial debt, equal to approximately 152 million euros, through an initial cash release of 69 million euros and the repayment of the residual exposure through the use of the proceeds deriving from the valuation of the investment portfolio.
“A very complex operation, both from a financial point of view and as regards the multiplicity of players involved. Two of the main Italian banks, the main NPL company in the country and many top-level professionals. In addition to the delicacy of the dossier, the real estate sector itself presents great factors of complexity”, he explains Dominic Trombone, president of Focus Investments, who followed the phases of the agreement step by step together with Elena Capra (CEO). In addition to the financial part, the debt restructuring also provides for a review of the corporate structure. In fact, the capital structure will be strengthened through the conversion into capital of receivables for 34.2 million euros by the creditor Borromini SVP, who thus becomes the new sole shareholder of Focus, as well as through the conversion into equity financial instruments by AMCO SpA of receivables for 3 million euros and the write-off of part of the residual debt, for an amount equal to 14.9 million euros, by Monte Paschi di Siena and Banco BPM.
When was the deal done?
The agreement, completed within the framework of article 182-bis of RD 267/1942 and sworn by the accountant Riccardo Ranalli, was approved by the Court of Milan last February. Creditors not adhering to the agreement will be fully reimbursed within the terms of the law, the top management said. «As mentioned, the multiplicity of interlocutors required particularly complex management of the negotiations, also at a technical level. It should also be noted that the restructuring plan and the contextual policy to enhance the real estate portfolio, which began in 2018 and ended last October, effectively collided with the two years of the pandemic. The scenario that we are facing today in the real estate sector, especially in recent months, certainly presents positive profiles. I am thinking of the growing number of important interlocutors who are reappearing on the market and also of the increase in prices per sq m.
The main unknown is instead linked to the increase in the cost of raw materials», he observes Elena Capra, CEO of Focus. The operation was followed by the financial advisor Rothschild SpA and by the Zoppini & Associati law firm, as well as, for tax aspects, by the Chiomenti law firm.
