The sale of Nueva Pescanova has been extended, and the two bidders are awaiting the decision of Abanza

Fiscal year 2022 ends on March 31. Nova Peščanova, and that was the deadline that Abanca set to decide on the buyer with whom it would formally negotiate (memorandum of understanding) in order to get rid of 97.8 percent of the shares and almost 600 million euros of the group’s debt.

But the process is taking longer than expected, although it eventually appears in the 2022 accounts as a significant year-end event. The problem Abanca faced was devaluation of the price of Nueva Pescanova, and some offers presented accordingly, which the bank under the leadership of Juan Carlos Escotet is trying to improve in this new phase of open bidding to get a better selling price.

Sources close to the operation assure that the Canadian Cooke, with whom Abanca is negotiating these days, is trying to close an improved offer, which would be unmatched, if the economic criterion prevails at the time of the election.

It is missing to know until where Platinum Equity wants to go, the Californian fund that owns the Ibercons group, was considered the favorite and potentially the winning option, until Cooke launched a counterattack.

According to sources close to the negotiations, Platinum submitted an economic offer enough to meet Abanza’s expectations and avoid losses through sales. The fund also wanted to value its knowledge of the Galician sector and the results achieved by Iberconsa since becoming part of the fund’s portfolio, despite the fact that 2022 was also affected by cost growth and inflation. Currently, the bidding is still open.