Pasogal in Groundforce capital raise

Pasogal, the majority shareholder in the Portuguese airports baggage handler Groundforce, said yesterday that it was open to “consider a capital raise” in SPdH, reserved for shareholders after an offer made by TAP on Sunday.

In a letter sent to TAP on Tuesday (16 March) which the news agency Lusa has seen, from Pasogal, its president Alfredo Casimiro said he was open to “consider undertaking an increase in share capital in SPdH, reserved for shareholders, by issuing new shares which could be subscribed to for a value per share based on the valuation of SPdH (Groundforce) that was made in 2018 by Sycomore Corporate Finance”.
In the letter, the shareholder who has 50.1% of the handling company said that the capital raise, which would be discussed at the next board meeting, would have to be from the premise that all the necessary conditions for the preservation and continuity of the company would be met,” adding “only in this way” could the maintenance of its 2,400 job posts be secured.
TAP proposes to raise €6.97 million for Groundforce through a capital raise and not via an advance as was being negotiated to unblock the deadlock and avoid a situation of “imminent bankruptcy”.
“The value in question will be made available by the TAP Group to SPdH (Groundforce), not as an advance for the payment of services supplied by SPdH to TAP, but through a share capital raise of SPdH, from €500,000 to €7,470,000, through the subscription of 697,000 new ordinary shares issued with a nominal value of €10 each, to be carried out through cash contributions, and wholly subscribed by a TAP Group company (‘SPdH Capital Raise’), states the letter.