Court rules TAP SGPS insolvent

In just under a month after a request from TAP SA to an insolvency court to declare Siavilo (formerly TAP SGPS) bankrupt, a judge has accepted the request and declared the shell company insolvent.

The insolvency request was delivered at the Lisbon Commercial Court on July 10 with TAP asking for the case to be dealt with urgently.

TAP SA is the main creditor of Siavilo that had no assets and was effectively a shell company. It had had no management since all of the administrators resigned em masse at the end of March and start of June.

In a reply to a question from an MP, the Minister of Infrastructures, Miguel Pinto Luz admitted that TAP SA was the largest creditor of Siavilo owing over €1Bn.

“Even the creditor that holds the debt, recognised by a definitive decision,  is not exempt from lodging a complaint against the insolvency case” states the ruling. October 2 at 2pm has been set aside for a meeting of the assembly of creditors to evaluate the report”.

Apart from TAP SA, Siavilo has other creditors including the Brazilian airline Azul, the State public companies management entity Parpública, which together are owed €235 million since the interest on the bonds issued in 2016 are also convertible.

The government has requested that TAP maintain business contracts with Azul which is owed €177 million. It is not clear at this point if the airline owned by former TAP shareholder David Neeleman will see the colour of its money.