Soundpoint Capital, a New York private equity operator founded by Stephen Ketchum, is the last subject to have presented a rescue proposal for the distressed construction group Condotte and thus remove it from the impasse caused by the non-payment a 190 million euro government guarantee promised by the Guarantee Fund, managed by the Italian Ministry of Treasury (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Newswire Radiocor wrote in the last few days, stating that the fund, assisted in the deal by Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli as for legal issues, has put forward 60 million euros to underwrite a 12-18 months bridge loan and was interested in taking over a package of “core” works orders. Soundpoint, in the past few months, had worked on the Astaldi bridge financing, a deal for which the Fortress proposal was then chosen (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
At a bridge loan of the same entity is also working at the same time a pool of Italian banks, together with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. While in the last weeks on the commissioners’ table (Condotte is now led by three commissioners as it has entered an extraordinary administration procedure, so-called Marzano Law) other proposals have arrived.
However, given that the Guarantee Fund managed by the Ministry of the Treasury, to which the companies can apply in insolvency proceedings pursuant to the Marzano law, would have to pay a total of 190 million euro and that at the moment it appears to have only 90 millions available, a 60 million euros bridge loan would not however cover the entire financing need for Condotte to support all existing contracts. Some orders, therefore, will have to be liquidated.
However the proposal fo Soundpoint Capital not the only one on the table. Illimity, the bank led by Corrado Passera, in a consortium with construction company Rizzani De Eccher, are said to be willing to invest 70 million euros to take over a series of construction sites in which Condotte is engaged, such as the City of Health in Sesto San Giovanni and the medium-speed railway in Algeria. In a first time Illimity teamed up with turnaround funds Highbridge Capital and Oxy Capital.
The point of the situation will however be made on March 4th, when the commissioners Giovanni Bruno, Alberto Dello Strologo and Matteo Ugetti will define the program for the recovery of Condotte, which will be submitted to the Supervisory Committee and to the Ministry of Economic Development for authorization. And, immediately afterwards, the subjects that have shown interest in these months could enter the scene.
