The Lena Group’s tourism and hotels company has applied for protection from its creditors under a PER special revitalisation process.
The principal creditor is Novo Banco which is owed just under €20 million and could do without a major failure on its hands at a time when the bank’s every move is being watched as it prepares to be transferred to US vulture fund, Lone Star.
Lena Hotels and Tourism owes €33.8 million to 12 main creditors but says that trading is good, with boss António Barroca justifying the decision to request a PER with the need to "restructure the sector and respond better to the tourism environment."
Lena Hotels and Tourism, SGPS, S.A., the holding company of the group that operates Eurosol Hotels, in fact requested a PER in April but, as at September, the process is still ‘under negotiation’ with Novo Banco undecided whether to allow the company to trade on, or to have it wound up and hotel assets sold off.
The PER plan was presented this week at the Leiria Judicial Court, with Novo Banco owed over half of the total debt as, "it financed the most important projects of Lena Hotels," according to the group.
The Lena group was one of the main debtors of Banco Espírito Santo and is mixed up in Operation Marquês as a corporate suspect. Joaquim Barroca, the former vice-president of the Lena Group and also a defendant in Operation Marquês, has entered a claim of €22,000.
The Lena Group encompasses construction, real estate, services and environment sectors and has spoken of trading difficulties due to the long-running Operation Marquês, saying that it would have to fight for survival.
