Holaluz avoids insolvency: the judge approves the restructuring

BarcelonaGood news for the Catalan energy company Holaluz. The judge in Barcelona's Commercial Court No. 5 has approved the company's debt restructuring plan, giving the group a breathing space and allowing it to avoid the insolvency it would have been forced to face due to the debt maturities it was facing.

Holaluz has informed BME Growth—the SME exchange where it is listed—of the court's ruling, which allows it to continue its business. The energy company had requested judicial approval of the agreement with the creditor banks so that its effects would be extended to those financial creditors who had not adhered to the agreement.

In the ruling, Judge Florencio Molina certifies that the plan presented meets all the requirements established by bankruptcy law and extends its conditions to entities that had not adhered, such as Banca March, Arquia Banca, the ICF, and Abanca. In fact, 100% of the Class A credit rights had adhered to the agreement, as had more than 90% of the Class B credit rights.

The affected Class A credits are financial credits with special privilege (with real estate collateral), and this includes a secured loan from CaixaBank of €819,000. As for the Class B credits, they correspond to ordinary financial credits, a category that includes both loans other than the aforementioned, as well as current instruments, promissory notes, or guarantees. In total, Class B credits amount to €49.6 million, and among them, the main creditors are CaixaBank, with €9.28 million (18.71%); Musaat, with €6.7 million (13.51%), and BBVA, with €4.87 million (9.82%).

The energy retailer already announced in March that this debt refinancing plan did not include haircuts and included loans, current instruments, MARF promissory notes (Alternative Fixed Income Market, where debt securities are traded), and guarantees. When Holaluz filed the request for judicial approval of the plan, it provided support for 79% of the financial liabilities, although the holder of the promissory notes issued on the MARF was later also included in the agreement.

Postponement until 2028

Holaluz's restructuring plan establishes a set of differentiated financial measures for each type of debt. However, in both cases, the agreement provides for the postponement of the maturity until June 2028 or until December of that same year, under certain conditions.

The judge's ruling makes it clear that the energy company was in a situation of "imminent insolvency due to the impossibility of regularly and punctually meeting its obligations due in the quarter following the formalization of the plan," because it had to face an overdue debt of €50 million, including €4 million with suppliers and financial institutions.