Espírito Santo Control has been condemned to the scrap heap by the Luxembourg Commercial Court as Ricardo Salgado sees his empire fall apart.
The insolvency of Espírito Santo Control is the fifth group company in less than a month to be declared bankrupt by the court under whose wing they sought refuge from their creditors and from the financial storm triggered by the failure of Banco Espírito Santo.
"At a decision delivered on November 5, 2014, the court of Luxembourg declared Espirito Santo SA Control, bankrupt," read the court statement, adding that the failure of the company was due to it being unable to meet its payments and its ‘credit standing was at issue,’ i.e. the company was unable to access further credit.
The same statement read that the court has appointed Karin Guillaume as the overseeing legal eagle and Alain Rukavina as the insolvency manager.
Espírito Santo Control is at the top of the Espírito Santo Group as it holds 56.5% of Espírito Santo International, which in turn owns 100% of Rioforte.
In October, Espírito Santo Group and Rioforte were declared insolvent by the same Luxembourg court, with Rioforte later contesting the decision and declaring its management best placed to oversee the sale of its complicated network of subsidiaries.
This petition has yet to be ruled on but it is thought unlikely that the court will approve any move that would enable the management that oversaw Rioforte’s descent into bankruptcy have any further role.
The other two Espírito Santo companies that already have failed the viability test are Espírito Santo Financial Group, and the Espírito Santo Financière.
The Swiss authorites already have declared Banque Privée Espírito Santo insolvent.
