On March 26th, bidding will be held to sell the bankrupt Pekabex construction company with headquarters in Poznan, western Poland. The company was founded in 1972 and used to be listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. It has had financial problems for the last several years. In 2006, a new investor – Sovereign Capital appeared in the company. Sovereign Capital is a fund specializing in restructuring of troubled companies. The fund assures that it will pay the debts to all creditors, develop the company and again list it on the WSE. The fund may not manage to do it because it has problems with red tape and the bankruptcy officer. The new investor expects that if the bidding is conducted, one of the developers has the biggest chances to win because the company has attractive land. Then, however, the company will cease to exist while several hundreds people will lose their jobs.
The Ministry of the Treasure, the minority shareholder of the company, did not comment. The bankruptcy officer promised to send an answer by email but he failed to do so. Meanwhile, there are numerous controversies. Pekabex has for some time already been running operations in its subsidiary Pekabex Bet. The company generates income, has stabile base of clients. The investor has presented a business plan to the court, ensures to pay back all debts to creditors, and has raised the company’s capital by PLN 20m (EUR 5.2m). However, the judge to decide about it, is sick and will come back too late to change decision about the bidding.
Pekabex has PLN 26m of debt. Its main creditors include BZ WBK, ZUS (social insurance), Poznan city and Agrobex company. BZ WBK admits that liquidation is not the best possible solution right now.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.258)