The liquidation process of the Citrícola Salteña (better known as Caputto) has not been easy and has encountered various obstacles and stones along the way. The company requested the bankruptcy in February 2019 and today its management is in charge of the Commercial Defense League (Lideco), the trustee appointed by the Justice.
This Tuesday, October 26, an assembly of bondholders (debt holders) of Citrícola Salteña approved a agreement between the privileged creditors of the company’s bankruptcy, Lideco, and shareholders and former directors of Citrícola y Nolir SA (Grupo Caputto), a key step that gives the green light to start the company’s block sale process, informed sources of the stock market to El Observador.
Caputto had issued Negotiable Obligations (debt) for US $ 11 million in 2016 with a 10-year term. As a guarantee for the payment of the NOs, productive lands valued at US $ 15.7 million at auction value and US $ 21 million at market value, and solidarity guarantees of all the companies of the group, which has several productive units, were included. At the time, a group of bondholders (investors) was in favor of executing that guarantee to get their investment.
Now him agreement of all creditors -which includes a fund from abroad- opens the door for a private investor to reach and keep the productive unit running, since a good part of the valuation of its assets is given by the citrus plantations that the firm owns.
The process and timelines
Caputto has a liability of about US $ 50 million and its main creditor is Banco República (BROU) with which it has a liability of around US $ 20 million. The rest of the debt is made up of commercial liabilities and those of different suppliers. The company has secured debt for US $ 35.7 million, while another US $ 11 million is unsecured.
The basis for the auction of Caputto’s assets will be US $ 36.5 million and the creditors will be charged pro rata of the amount that is finally left from the operation if the private interest in investing in that business is maintained. Before starting this process, the The bankruptcy judge must approve the agreement that the creditors reached this week.
The agreement establishes a period for the sale of assets of 60 days with a maximum of 150 days. Therefore, it is likely that arrival of the potential buyer may only occur during the first quarter of next year.
Caputto has assets valued at the time for about US $ 70 million, which depend especially on the valuation of citrus plantations, which include varieties of fruit, infrastructure, irrigation system, accesses and greenhouses, among others. The giant from Salta has about 3,500 hectares (ha) of which 1,500 (ha) were destined for varietal reconversion, due to the fact that in 2016 there was a change in consumer preferences. The firm has an industrial packaging plant for fresh fruits and another for juices of 26 thousand square meters and state-of-the-art technology. The industrial complex generates direct employment for about 1,000 people in Salto.
The The objective sought by the parties involved is that the investor (s) can land in Caputto before the start of the next citrus harvest, which will start in the fall of 2022. Now it is expected that the interest that different investors had shown to take over the industrial complex materializes with a specific offer to acquire the assets of Citrícola Salteña. If no interested party arises, the entire process would go back to zero.
