Abengoa Says Signs Deal With Creditors for EUR106 Million Loan
December 24 2015 - 10:58AM
Dow Jones News
By Carlos Lopez Perea and David Roman
MADRID--Spanish renewable energy and engineering firm Abengoa SA
(ABG.MC) Thursday said it has signed a deal with its creditors to
receive a 106 million euro ($115.8 million) loan that it will use
to keep operations running even as it stays under creditor
protection.
Abengoa, which filed for protection last month, said in a
regulatory filing it must give back the loan to the creditor
banks--including Banco Santander SA and CaixaBank SA--before March
17, 2016. The loan is guaranteed by Abengoa's shares in its Abengoa
Yield PLC unit.
The cash-strapped company has been involved in negotiations with
lenders for months, and has hired Lazard, a Swiss bank, as an
advisor to craft a plan that it will present to creditors Jan.
18.
Abengoa reported gross financial debt of EUR8.9 billion in the
third quarter. That figure swells to EUR16.9 billion when including
EUR2.1 billion the company has in what are known as confirming
lines--funds it owes to its suppliers--and EUR5.9 billion of debt
the company has in subsidiaries it said could potentially be sold,
according to calculations made by the analysts at Exane BNP
Paribas.
If Abengoa doesn't find a way out of its predicament, it could
be the largest bankruptcy case in the country's history.
The company is one of the world's top builders of power lines
transporting energy across Latin America and a top engineering and
construction business, making renewable-energy power plants in
places from Kansas to the U.K.
The latest round of Abengoa's negotiations with creditors began
after Spanish investment firm Gonvarri Corporacion Financiera
canceled a plan to inject around EUR350 million into the Seville,
Spain-based company.
Write to David Roman at david.roman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 24, 2015 10:43 ET (15:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.