Sodecia disputes Efacec again. Mota-Engil is also interested

Among the eight parties interested in the reprivatisation of Efacec, four are Portuguese, and the other half are foreign, according to Expresso. Some had already shown interest in previous operations, such as the US fund Oaktree and Portugal’s Sodecia. But there are also new interested parties: from Portuguese groups, construction company Mota-Engil; Carpin, a company owned by a former Efacec chairman, António Cardoso Pinta; and Efaflu, owned by the Ricca family, a former shareholder in the company.

As for the foreign investors interested, besides Oaktree, there are also the German fund Mutares, which specialised in acquiring companies in difficulties; the English fund Enoda and an Asian fund. The company DST, which had an agreement to buy Efacec in the last privatisation operation, is definitely out of the race.

The government has sought to negotiate debt forgiveness with the creditor banks – CGD, BCP, Novobanco and Montepio – which, according to Expresso, should happen, although it depends on the proposed haircut. A banking source cited by the newspaper said that making the company viable “will imply an effort from everyone, as insolvency would certainly be worse. The banks have a credit of 115 million euros in Efacec, nationalised in June 2020.