Rioforte has notified Varol to appear before the Commercial Court of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Pharol, formerly Portugal Telecom, has informed the market that Rio Forte has been notified to appear before the Commercial Court of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

“In February 2024, Farol received notice from the Enforcement Agent (Huissier de Justice) in Luxembourg on behalf of the liquidator of Rio Forte Investments, to appear before the Commercial Court of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on April 19, 2024 at 9 a.m. – this hearing determines the start of the process, and until that date will not Varol must take any position on the process,” the company says in a statement.

This is a “qualified application by the liquidator of Rio Forte Investments as a subsidiary” in relation to “the non-recognition of credit claimed by Pharol” in the insolvency of Rio Forte, “in the amount of €918,146,770.80 (€918.1 million) to declare the payment of €199,631,000 void.” Euros (€199.6 million) made by RFI on 15 April 2014
Straight to Farol.”

That is, Pharol will respond to the invalidity request filed by the liquidator of Rio Forte Investments in connection with the payment of €199.6 million by the company that was part of the Espírito Santo Group to the former PT SGPS.

The liquidators themselves recall in this new notice that the insolvency administrators objected to Farol's credit declaration as unsecured credit in the amount of €918.1 million, merely on the alleged “matter of prudence”.

This concerns the credit that this company inherited from Portugal Telecom, which invested almost 900 million euros in Rioforte before the collapse of the Espírito Santo Group in 2014.

It is the Luxembourg court that will decide whether this credit will be recognized or not.

“From reading the notification received, there are no new arguments calling into question, the understanding of Farol and supported by the opinion of its lawyers, of the regularity of the company's credit regarding the insolvency of Rio Forte Investments in the amount of 918,146,770.80 euros,” he defends the Portuguese company.

Pharol promises that it “will keep the market informed of relevant developments in the above-mentioned operations and will not fail to take all necessary and appropriate measures to fully defend the interests of all stakeholders of the Company.”

For many years, Pharol, formerly known as PT SGPS, has been trying to recover as much as possible from PT's ruined investment of €897 million of debt by Rioforte, a subsidiary of the Espírito Santo Group.