Mutuares’ Efacec recovery plan to cut debt by 50%

The strategy to reduce a €58 million debt taken on by electrical and transport systems company Efacec by 50% was announced by its new owners, German fund Mutuares this week.

The debt had been taken on in 2019 through a debenture loan. In other words Efacec bondholders – the company which will now be 71.73% owned by Mutares and which had been in the hands of the State companies holding Parpública – will accept a 50% reduction on the amount the credit was worth.
Mutares’s plan will have to be approved at a bondholders’ meeting. If the bondholders reject the plan then the entire Efacec privatisation process could go back to the drawing board.
Another possibility is that Mutares negotiates directly with the bondholders for an extension on the time period to pay back to loan. The bonds issued in 2019 had a five-year maturity at a fixed annual rate of 4.5%.
Mutares is a German industrial holding listed on the Frankfurt stock market and has a listed capitalisation of €490 million as of June 1,
The fund has a portfolio of comprising 32 companies that operate in sectors are varied as cars, mobility, engineering, technology and goods and services. It closed 2022 with consolidated sales of €3,8Bn and profits of €72.9 million.
The sale of the 71.73% share in Efacec was announced on June 7. At the time the Minister of the Economy and Sea, António Costa Silva said that the expectation was to “recover all of the investment made by the State in the company consisting of direct support of €132 million plus €85 million of State secured loans.