The Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies that the Government designed to establish temporary public support that would serve to reinforce the solvency of non-financial companies that are important to the Spanish economy has been an absolute failure and, instead of achieving its goal, it is threatening the future of more than 60 companies.

The ineffectiveness and resignation of the management team that manages this instrument, the Spanish Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI), will force Spain to request an extension from Brussels to extend this liquidity line beyond December 31, which It is the date established by the European authorities to distribute 10,000 million euros, of which only 15% of the funds have been approved.

The problem lies in the blockade of SEPI, an agency under the Ministry of Finance, due to the legal consequences of the controversial rescue of the Plus Ultra airline, a company that in no case can be considered strategic for Spain due to its weak market share, but which was showered with 53 million euros with the intercession of the Ministry of Transport directed by José Luis Ábalos.

Ciudadanos took the case to the Court of Auditors and the European Commission and, in addition, a court in Madrid has opened proceedings against the members of the Fund's Management Board on the grounds that there may be criminal liability in the allocation of money to the company that He has Venezuelan advisers and that, according to complaints among other Spanish politicians, the PP deputy, Mario Cortés, maintains a close relationship with the Nicolas Maduro regime.

As confirmed to MERCA2 by sources from the CEOE employers' association, the new management of SEPI under the leadership of the former president of Navantia, Belen Gualda, is directly responsible for this blockade, since she fears being involved in another similar case.

And to help him evade his responsibility, the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, has helped him by approving a resolution that modifies the powers of the Management Council of the rescue fund, distributing them among other SEPI departments. In addition, Gualda has decided, with the approval of the Government, to hire external advisors in the financial and legal fields to carry out the pending files.

ADVISORS TO AVOID RESPONSIBILITIES

“In this way, SEPI and the Treasury commit a neglect of functions, since they place in the hands of law firms and consultants the confirmation that the companies that opt ​​for the fund comply established criteria and requirements. This, far from accelerating the granting of aid, what it does is delay it even more while public bodies evade their responsibility ”, indicate the sources consulted.

So far, the institution chaired by Gualda has only authorized the rescue programs of eight business groups, while another 61 corporations await a response to their request after having passed the first screening. Those that have obtained the approval of SEPI are Air Europa, with 475 million euros, Hotusa (241 million), Ávoris (320 million), Duro Felguera (120 million), Tubos Reunidos (112.8 million), the aforementioned Plus Ultra (53 million), Rugui Steel (35 million) and the technology company Airtificial (34 million)

The problem is that SEPI no longer has the material time to carry out its work before the end of the year, which is when the term to complete the processes ends. And that there are several companies that have been waiting for their files to be dealt with for almost a year, when the Royal Decree that created the aforementioned rescue fund established a maximum period of six months.

THE TERM EXPIRES ON DECEMBER 31

The rule indicated that "if after that period has not elapsed and notified or an express resolution, it will be understood that the application has been rejected." However, SEPI itself has indicated to the companies that the Administrative Procedure Law allows not meeting the deadline whenever additional information is requested, which is what has been done in most cases.

Although it has not yet been made official, this newspaper has been able to learn that the Ministry of Finance is currently preparing an official request to Brussels to obtain a new extension. The European Commission already approved last February to extend for the second time the maximum period for granting state aid to fight the economic effects of the pandemic and the department headed by Montero believes that the community authorities will not put problems with a new postponement.

The problem is that in the business sector it is feared that the blockade will continue in the coming months, at least until the courts determine the degree of responsibility of the SEPI managers in rescuing Plus Ultra. Especially after the Minister of Finance made it publicly clear that she is not responsible for possible irregularities that the Fund's Management Council may commit.

In the Congress of Deputies, after being questioned by Ciudadanos, Montero said last June that the bailouts “are not decided by the Government, which only limits itself to ratifying them after the technical decision adopted within the framework of the management fund or in that of SEPI itself”. An obvious way to pass the ball to Gualda and cover his back.

Meanwhile, the PP and Vox have unsuccessfully tried to get Gualda and the Minister of Finance to appear in Congress to give explanations (she could only be questioned in the presentation of the PGE), both for the delivery of public money to Plus Ultra as well as the delays in the granting of aid to strategic companies that may present suspension of payments in the coming months. Most of the companies that have submitted the application have lost access to bank financing and hope that the Government will extend the terms with the approval of Brussels.

The four large groups that could receive authorization before the end of the year are Air Nostrum (103 million euros), Siro (100 million), Técnicas Reunidas (290 million) and the Áreas group (120 million), since that their files are quite advanced. These companies are being analyzed by external advisors hired by SEPI last September. Other companies waiting their turn are Mediapro (230 million), Wamos Air (75 million), Hesperia (55 million) and Room mate (52 million).

Separate mention should be made of the case of Abengoa, which requested 249 million euros (one million less than what is stipulated in the regulations to prevent the file from being reviewed by the European authorities) and which is blocked by the struggle of the shareholders with Earthsea. Minorities fear that the objective of this US fund when entering the capital is to access public aid and then sell Abengoa's highest value assets, which would mean a new scandal that would splash the directors of SEPI and, by extension to the Spanish Government.

(NOTE: UPDATE 11-19-2021. After the publication of this article, the Plus Ultra company wants to exercise its right of rectification, making it clear that «the aid granted by SEPI has not been proven to be irregular in any case; that the airline Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas is of Spanish nationality, and that various reports and expert opinions requested by the courts in relation to the legal case in process in Court No. 15 of Madrid show that the airline did meet the necessary criteria to receive the financing".)