Hellenic Sugar wins protection from creditors, as talks go on
Troubled Hellenic Sugar Industry (HSI) won temporary protection from its creditors in court on Monday while its bank accounts were unfrozen to allow for a shake-up of its operations.
HSI is under the management of special liquidator PQH, which has already held three failed tenders to sell it. Efforts to restructure the business by selling two of its subsidiaries in Serbia have also been unsuccessful.
HSI is burdened with huge debts, cumulative losses and negative equity. Piraeus Bank, HSI’s biggest creditor, is in talks with restructuring firm Innovation Brain to try to streamline the company and decide on the impairment rates of HSI’s liabilities, totaling 246.6 million euros. Based on documents submitted to the Thessaloniki court, HSI owes 174.37 million euros to Piraeus, 30 million to PQH, 13.79 million to gas company DEPA, 9.41 million to Serbia’s Crvenka Fabrika Secera, 6.03 million to the Cooperative Bank of Serres, 2.32 million to food company Gaea, 2.03 million to social security funds, 1.49 million to Trainose, 482,234 to sugar cane growers and 259,489 to its employees.
The company’s restructuring plan and its bankruptcy will be discussed on September 26. Kathimerini understands that all sides – HSI, PQH and the government – want to complete the deal by that date.
