The Guimarães consortium wants to purchase bankrupt Coelima and retain 250 workers

A consortium based in Guimarães wants to purchase Coelima textiles, which have more than 250 workers and filed for bankruptcy in April, as stated in the proposal submitted to the court, which Lusa was able to access today.

Among other points, the proposal which was submitted to the Guimaraes Commercial Court, stipulates as a condition the preservation of jobs, as well as the assumption of workers’ rights and seniority.

“As serious evidence of the consortium’s interest in the feasibility of this proposal, this consortium also offers to provide an immediate advance of the amount that will be necessary according to the previous interim administration of the bankrupt to keep the insolvent company in the process during the month of June, which adds its value to 200,000 euros,” according to the offer.

It is noted in the text, however, that “the retention of positions in managerial positions is subject to the condition of pre-evaluation of their competencies to exercise the above-mentioned functions and the need to retain them”.

The consortium intending to acquire Coelima, a Guimarães textile celebrating its centenary next year, is made up of R.TL companies. And SA, José Fontão & Cia, Lda.

In the proposal, the investor advocates demand “the eventual transfer of the bankrupt’s institution (…) with all its assets,” which include commodities, trademarks, machinery, and the client’s portfolio.

The consortium undertakes to pay the funds for the Tax Authority, Social Security and bank credits in monthly installments.

It is a condition of this group of companies that Coelima remains operational, maintaining the client portfolio, as well as the team that makes up the current commercial division.

It is also required that the outgoing administration present a set of documents “necessary to prepare an action plan” to be drawn up within 30 days of receipt.

The proposal concludes, “The sole purpose of this proposal is to keep the company and the brand alive Coelima, a century-old, historic company that includes more than 250 families through its workers.”

Giant fall

Coelima – textile industries Filed for bankruptcy on April 14thAfter a drop in sales of “more than 60%” caused by the epidemic, requests to helplines were not approved due to COVID-19.

“The company decided to go ahead with the insolvency application, as a result of the situation created by the epidemic, which caused a sharp drop in sales and put pressure on the unsustainable treasury,” said Lusa’s official textile source at the time. .

The announcement of the ruling of the insolvency declaration was published on April 22, with the company providing liability for approximately € 30 million and approximately 250 creditors at the end of 2020.

On Wednesday, Coelima Textile Department It announced that it would not file a bankruptcy plan With the aim of restoring the company, where “the conditions for guaranteeing the maintenance of the process have not been met.”

“Over the past few weeks, Coelima has been actively working to gather the necessary support to recover and to enable the implementation of the insolvency plan. Despite all the effort and work that was done, it was not possible for Coelima to obtain commitment from the various interested parties in order to submit a plan, so the decision was made. The future of the company is left to its creditors. ” The official source for the company Luca.

In the insolvency petition, Textiles, which included 253 workers, asked the court to assign the administration of the insolvent estate, after it “committed itself to filing a bankruptcy plan that would stipulate the continuation of the company’s activity.”

Founded in 1922 and one of the largest producers of bed linen, Guimarães Textiles is part of the MoreTextile Group, which resulted in 2011 from a merger with JMA and António Almeida & Filhos and whose main shareholder is a redemption fund managed by ECS Capital.

The Textile Federation convened in Minho and the Terrace or Montes in plenary

Meanwhile, the Textiles Federation of Minho and the Terrace or Montes decided to hold a plenary session of the Coelima textile workers on Monday to introduce a new proposal that “constitutes a ray of hope,” the coordinator said today to Lusa.

“It is hope. Other proposals or other companies are waiting for bankruptcy. But we don’t want the company to go bankrupt, we want continuity. This group already guarantees June salaries and wants to keep the workers, specifically the salesmen. The coordinator of the Textile Union in Minho and Trás-os- said in this For the moment, there is already a dispute over Coelima’s customer portfolio, a company that has a product, a brand, a credibility and has everything to be a great company… from Montes to Lusa, Francisco Vieira.

The plenary session was scheduled to take place at 13:30 on Monday, in the presence of CGTP-IN’s Secretary General, Isabel Camarinha.

Francisco Vieira, who refuses to view Coelima’s future scenario as a “definite fate of death,” added to Lusa that on the same day he hoped to arrange a meeting with the Guimarães city council, which, according to the union leader, “showed a lot of commitment to the process, preserving Direct contact with the Ministry of Economy.

“We have to find a solution. The workers don’t want to stop,” the coordinator said, indicating that this would probably be “the third life” for Coelima, who survived a crisis in 1991, when she had 2,240 workers, and the other in 2001, when her staff was working. 600 Employee.

Francisco Vieira said, “The vast majority of workers are paid the minimum wage and there are people with 40 years of seniority.”