Parlem changes hands: and now what?

BarcelonaLast Friday, the shareholders' meeting of Parlem approved a critical shareholding change for the company. The Catalan telecom company approved a restructuring of its debt that leaves the majority of the capital in the hands of the Inveready fund and the Malaga family that owns Mayoral, through its holding company Global Portfolio Investments. Specifically, with the change approved by the board, Inveready, which held around 8% of the capital, will become the main shareholder with 49%, after converting outstanding debt into shares. Furthermore, Global Portfolio Investments is expected to participate strongly in a capital increase worth 7.95 million euros to maintain its weight in the shareholding.

For their part, those who will suffer the dilution effect from the increases will be the Catalanist branch of the company, mainly formed by the founder of Parlem, Ernest Pérez-Mas, and Ona Capital – the fund of the Font family, owners of the Bon Preu group. In addition, they have also lost the majority on the company's board of directors: at the meeting held last Friday, shareholders also supported increasing the body to six seats, with four new directors from Inveready and two more independents. But, in view of these major changes in its structure, what can be expected from the company from now on?

Far from Avatel

Although Inveready's new position could open the door to exploring an integration with Avatel again, Josep Maria Echarri, founder and CEO of Inveready, denied this possibility during the shareholders' meeting: "It's not on the table, Parlem's current situation makes it unfeasible," Echarri assured. It should be remembered that, a few months ago, Parlem decided to reject an integration with Avatel after Inveready lowered its initial offer. This move has ended up leading to the company's current situation. Nevertheless, sources close to the company indicate to ARA that in the future the investment fund could seek to sell the company to one of the main network operators in the State.

Another unknown to be resolved will be to know what role the founder of Parlem, Ernest Pérez-Mas, will play in the future of the company. Currently, he is its president and performs executive functions after during the month of March the then CEO of Parlem, Xavier Capellades, presented his resignation. Pérez-Mas, in recent months, has sought alternatives so that Inveready would not take control of Parlem, despite finally voting in favor of the debt restructuring due to the lack of other solutions. The board of directors meeting to be held on August 24 could be key to defining his role.

It should be remembered that the debt of the telecom catalan with Inveready originates from various credits made by the Echarri fund that began to mature in the short term after, during the previous fiscal year, different financial ratios established in the financing contracts were breached (covenants).