INAPA quits Euronext Lisboa leaving investors with next-to-nothing

Inapa, the company that had been listed on the Portuguese capital market for longer than any other, quit the Portuguese stock exchange Euronext Lisbon on Tuesday.

The Portuguese paper distributor’s shares were worth (almost) nothing and can no longer be traded on the market leaving investors who held shares in the company, which filed for insolvency on July 29, “stuck” with shares in a company with no future and little or no hope of recovering their investment.

INAPA joined the capital market more than four decades ago, in 1980. In a sector in decline, it went through several crisis moments, and ended up being controlled by more than 70% by the banks, due to the conversion of preferred shares, and even risked nationalisation.

An unexpected short-term liquidity need of €12 million, which was rejected by Portugal’s public companies holding entity Parpública, further propelled the group towards bankruptcy, leaving shareholders with virtually worthless shares.

On leaving the stock market INAPA’s shares were worth 0.002 cents by the close of trading. on Tuesday, and were in a special area of the stock exchange reserved for companies in insolvency proceedings.

The shares, which even momentarily skyrocketed after the announcement that the company would quit Euronext Lisbon following a creditors’ meeting that took place in September which ordered the insolvency and sale of assets for €45 million, tumbled when all hopes of a buyout or rescue vanished.