Pluris invested €674 million over 20 years

After strong criticisms that Pluris, owned by media tycoon Mário Ferreira, got €13 million in grants from RRP funding, Pluris argues that the company has made investments of €674 million over the past 20 years.

According to data provided to ECO online, the investments grew by an annual average of 25% over the period.
Mário Ferreira has been under fire for applying for community funding with criticisms that the company is not a strategic one vital for Portugal’s economy, and therefore should not receive handouts from EU bazooka or community funds.
Ferreira had been criticised over the conditions to access repayable loans of €40 million from the investment bank Banco de Fomento on the back of the RRP (Recovery and Resilience Fund).
The loan has not yet been made formal and required Pluris to stump up guarantees of €12 million.
Of a total portfolio of investments worth €675 million, the holding based in Porto reveals that €186.6 million comes from three different sources: own capital investment and bank loans (€120 million) and public funds.
The group benefited from subsidies worth €66.3 million — around 10% of the total invested in this period-, but only €13.3 million from EU grants.
The Pluris Group operates in scores of companies in areas such as tourism, real estate, insurance and media (it has a 35.38% share in Media Capital (which owns the television station TVI).
Pluris has been under fire in parliament from the left-wing Bloco de Esquerda after Media Capital was awarded €40 million out of €77 million from the first phase of a recapitalisation programme from the Capitalisation and Resilience Fund.
This fund is controlled by the Banco Português de Fomento which has devised a financing programme with €250 million earmarked to support applications for venture capital funds for investment in SMEs and Mid Caps impacted by the Pandemic which are economically viable and have the potential to recover.
It also has a strategic recapitalisation programme of €400 million using funds from the Capitalisation and Resilience Fund to stimulate the sustainable long-term growth of the economy and reduce the structural capital deficit within Portugal’s companies network.
Under Portugal’s overall RRP the government will receive €13.9Bn in grants and €2.7Bn in loans. 38% of the plan will support climate objectives and 22% of the plan will foster the digital transition.