Metalgest faces closure

Metalgest, a holding owned by maverick art collector multi-millionaire Joe Berardo, is facing closure for failing to disclose accounts for two years.

It has been subject to an administrative process because it failed to deliver its accounts to the tax authorities, and now has 30 days to deliver them of face being shut down.
The company, which is registered in the Madeira Special Tax Zone, is said to owe banks millions and failed to present its accounts in 2019 and 2020.
The company and its owner have been notified and now have various deadlines to correct the situation.
The online news source ECO tried to contact the Madeira entrepreneur who set up the Berardo Foundation, which has one of the finest collections of modern art in private hands — the Berardo Collection – but to no avail.
Metalgest was one of the companies Berardo used to raise cash from the banks like public owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos to buy shares in Millennium bcp in which he sought to be a major shareholder a decade ago.
CGD and other banks including BCP and Novobanco are also fighting a legal battle to recover debts of around €1Bn from the entrepreneur.
According to Portuguese magazine Exame, he had an estimated net worth of €598 million in 2010, making him one of the wealthiest people in Portugal at the time. Starting around the 2010–2014 Portuguese financial crisis when both the Portuguese Republic finances and banking system collapsed, he has been involved in several controversies and legal issues which led to the seizure of his bank accounts, his companies’ assets and his questioning by the judicial authorities and parliament due to ongoing legal investigations.