Soares da Costa wound up

One of Portugal’s most iconic construction firms, Soares da Costa has finally gone bankrupt after years of losses and misadventures in overseas markets.

The company is selling off its tangible assets in an online auction after failing with €526 million in debts. It has also selling off its main building yards and headquarters in São Félix da Marinha, in Gaia (Porto) for €8.1 million.
Soares da Costa, which was once one of the largest construction and civil engineering companies in Portugal, has, according to Negócios, “been on death’s row” for years after having gone through several owners, including Angolans, and a Special Revitalisation Process (SRP) that was never completed, with the company ending up by being declared insolvent under the name SdCAA (– Sociedade de Construções da África Austral) last year.
Given that it had to meet the objectives of the SRP, agreed two years previous, Soares da Costa turned its focus away from the Portuguese market and tried to “Angolanise” the company. However, the Covid-19 pandemic, among many other reasons, resulted in the plans coming to nothing after Soares da Costa made only €1 million and suffered €7.7 million in debts for 2021-2022 alone.
“A year was lost in Angola with elections and the death of its former head of State (José Eduardo dos Santos) with the result election period and subsequent instability negatively affected economic development in the country caused by a general paralysis in political decision-making”, states the insolvency report. The company would have relied on public works projects in the country which were subsequently postponed or shelved.