The paper distributor Inapa is preparing to be dismembered as part of the ongoing insolvency process. The insolvency administrator reported that there are purchase proposals for the company’s assets, one of which is already binding, and with 20 million euros in hand. However, in this division of the group there is one factor to take into account: “no proposal was received for all of Inapa IPG’s assets”.
The statement to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) by Inapa IPG, the holding company that is 45% owned by the state company Parpública and which is in insolvency, makes it clear that a competitive process was opened to try to sell the company and its assets. But not everyone is generating interest.
Proposals and expressions of interest
The summary of the report by the insolvency administrator, Bruno Costa Pereira, states that there were “four proposals” from different entities for different perimeters within the group, but “with special emphasis on assets located in Portugal and France”. None target the entire group.
Within these perimeters of the proposals, none intends to acquire units in Germany, Spain, Belgium or Türkiye. It was the situation at the German subsidiary that precipitated the fall, as the group was unable to compensate for the temporary insufficiency of treasury that it found there, especially because Parpública and the Ministry of Finance refused to help – subsequently starting a chain drop in companies.
There are, then, “at least” two individual proposals for the purchase of Inapa’s paper distribution unit in France (Inapa France SAS) and the packaging unit in Portugal (Inapa Packaging Lda).
Inapa Portugal, the paper distribution unit in the country and which also operates in Angola, received “expressions of interest”, which were not formalized. This company decided not to go into insolvency, asking, rather, for the extraordinary process of revitalization, to negotiate its salvation with creditors.
The insolvency administrator of Inapa IPG, the holding company, also adds that “there is interest expressed by several investors in ensuring the maintenance of the activity of the company Inapa Shared Centre”, the area of shared services.
Binding purchase in France
However, what is definitive is that there is already a proposal to purchase Inapa’s packaging unit in France (Inapa Packaging SAS). It is for 20 million euros, part of a company identified in the report by Next Pack SAS and is subject to authorization from the French competition regulator.
A binding offer means that the buyer is, if the competitive green light condition is met, committed to completing the acquisition.
For next week, on September 27th, the meeting of Inapa’s creditors has been scheduled to authorize this transaction through which two other French subsidiaries will also be sold (Semaq and Manutention D`Aquitaine and Embaltec).
At this meeting, Bruno Costa Pereira also awaits authorization from creditors to have more time to close the sale of the remaining assets.
An international company falling
Internationalization was one of Inapa’s points of honor, a company that focused on paper distribution after leaving the production area, but which also operated in the areas of packaging and communication. Germany and France were major markets for the company, where it had expanded in recent years, also having a relevant presence in Spain, and with operations in Belgium (from which it operated in Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and Turkey. The company had more than 1600 workers.
The shareholders of this holding are Parpública, Nova Expressão and Novo Banco. BCP and Novo Banco are the main creditors.
Inapa’s former management blamed Parpública for not having saved it and contributing to the group’s downfall. The Government of Luís Montenegro refused to provide temporary financing to help the company, which lost 90% of its stock market value after the announcement of insolvency. Today, all of Inapa is worth 1.8 million euros on the stock market.
Parpública recognized as lost the entire amount invested in Inapa, with the constitution of impairments of 8 million this year, according to its report and accounts for 2023.
