The president of the Amorim group has formed a consortium with Claude Berda’s real estate company, Vanguard Properties, to buy Herdade da Comporta.Described as a ‘race’ to buy the sprawling estate, once the jewell in the Espírito Santo Group crown, Paula Amorim is in the arena with Oakvest, controlled by the British businessman Mark Holyoake and includes the involvement of the French aristocrat, Louis-Albert de Broglie.
"There is, in fact, a solid consortium formed by the largest Portuguese economic group, which has shareholder Paula Amorim," confirmed a spokesman for Berda, the French, Switzerland-based businessman.
José Cardoso Botelho, director of Vanguard, said that the consortium intends to acquire 1,360 hectares of land in Comporta, but does not say how much it is going to offer, saying only that the project represents “enormous challenges."
Businessman Pedro Almeida had tried to buy the estate through his Ardma Imobiliária company but he was rejected by the Public Ministry for insider dealing and now faces prosecution.
Businessman Pedro Almeida had tried to buy the estate through his Ardma Imobiliária company but he was rejected by the Public Ministry for insider dealing and now faces prosecution.
All of these bidders appear not to recognise that they need to buy the Comporta Real Estate Fund and the associated Herdade da Comporta agricultural company for any development to have a chance of success.
Herdade de Comporta’s legal construction is complex. First, there is the Comporta Real Estate Fund which owes well over €100 million to Caixa Geral. This fund has assets, albeit it frozen ones that only the public Prosecutor can arrange to have unfrozen, as it owns land, real estate construction projects and building plots at Herdade da Comporta, and nearby.
The other part of the business is the agricultural fund, 'Herdade da Comporta - Agro-Silvicultural and Tourist Activities,' which manages the agricultural and tourist part of the enterprise, spread across the Grândola and Alcácer do Sal council borders: this business is 'suspended, and faces insolvency while it waits for a solution and a buyer for the Comporta real estate fund.
The new Vanguard-Amorim consortium wants to conclude "the infrastructural works that were started ages ago and finish the golf course.”
The estate has been for sale since the Espírito Santo Group company, Rioforte, filed for insolvency when Banco Espírito Santo collapsed in 2014.
Rioforte owns 59% of Compota’s controlling fund.
In November 2016, veteran US businessman Asher Edelman was interviewed by algarvedailynews.com about a potential bid being put together by property development company Armory Merchant,
The estate has been for sale since the Espírito Santo Group company, Rioforte, filed for insolvency when Banco Espírito Santo collapsed in 2014.
Rioforte owns 59% of Compota’s controlling fund.
In November 2016, veteran US businessman Asher Edelman was interviewed by algarvedailynews.com about a potential bid being put together by property development company Armory Merchant,
Ed - Has Armory Merchant made a bid for either or both of the companies that control Comporta, or as the two companies being sold separately, has this blocked any sensible ‘market price’ offer?
AE - "Yes, we have made two bids for the Agricultural Company. Both were ignored by Haitong, Rioforte, the Trustees, and the Luxembourg court. We have not made a formal bid for the 'Fund' as it carries more debt than the property is worth and a myriad of poisonous deals both intercompany and extra to the company. The two companies need to be put together to survive. The 'Fund' as it is structured now will be a money pit, which will not see cash flow for at least eight years and will require about €400 million to purchase, pay debt, and complete the projects. We would look to owning both entities and remerging them - the only way to succeed."
As for any proposal to buy the Comporta Real Estate Fund without the Agricultural company, Edelman commented last week,
“No one in his right mind will buy the fund. As a gift it will be a burden but to buy it will be a disaster. The only way any of this makes sense, provided that not a lot has changed, is for the fund and the agricultural company to be sold as one. When they are ready to sell the two as one and it’s going to be a legitimate sale on a competitive basis, I would like to be a competitor.”
Amorim and Berda's press announcements, and Edelman's warnings, serve to highlight the complexity involved in resolving the furture of Comporta.
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Paula Amorim is a daughter of cork magnate, Américo Amorim who died in 2017.
In November 2016, due to her father's sizeable shareholding in Galp Energia, Paula was handed the Presidency of the Counsel of Administration of Galp Energia, SGPS, S.A. after being the company’s vice-president for four years.
Galp is in partnership with ENI in a consortium involved in drilling for oil and gas in the ocean, 46 kilometres off Aljezur.
Therefore, the likelihood of Galp-ENI drilling in the seabed within in sight of the Comporta estate’s beach, is zero.
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