The Santa Fe justice confirmed that Vicentin’s payment plan is “abusive”, in line with the failed by the judge of first instance, civil and commercial, Fabián Lorenzini, and the Supreme Court of Provincial Justice, and cleared the way to save by other companies (Cramdown) that the agro -export had appealed.
Rafaela’s civil, commercial and labor chamber in its room II, supported the challenge presented by Commodities SA, linked to the Grassi broker, which leads the claim of the disagreement creditors, and rejected the approach of the Avellaneda agro -exporter, which when considering it defeated in this judicial instance assigned the payment of the costs.
This new sentence emphasizes that the agreement with the majority of creditors, as stipulated in the contest and bankruptcy law, is not challenging, but does not equate the right of all creditors.
The Rafaelina Chamber of Appeals confirmed that the proposal of preventive agreement promoted by the company was “abusive, violated the principle of equality of the creditors and transferred excessive risks to those who claimed the payment of their credits.”
The case, based in File No. 21-25023953-7/10, has as its axis the bankruptcy process initiated by Vicentin after the 2019 default. In September 2023, the judge of first instance had rejected homologating the agreement with the creditors. He argued that the plan lacked sustainability and violated essential norms of the Law and Bankruptcy Law.
Among other points, he pointed out that no creditors had been formed, which involved an unequal and unjustified treatment between actors with very different realities and credit amounts.
Against that decision, both Vicentin and the crediting firm Commodities SA, who had challenged the agreement for considering it abusive.
In March 2024, the Chamber of Reconquista had reversed the sentence and ordered to homologate the plan, but that resolution was annulled by the Supreme Court of Santa Fe in February this year.
The case then returned to Rafaela, where judges Duilio Hail, María José Álvarez Tremea and Pablo Lorenzetti reaffirmed the arguments of the first ruling and the court.
According to the new ruling, Vicentin’s proposal not only grouped without distinction to creditors with different levels of exposure, but established questions, waiting without interest and uncertain payment mechanisms, such as participation in a trust without clear guarantees.
The Rafaelina Chamber remarked that the plan transferred business contingencies to creditors, without ensuring operational continuity or labor sources.
In addition, the court recognized the legitimacy of the challenge of commodities, which had been formally dismissed in the first instance. The sentence orders that this challenge and load Vicentin with the coasts of the process be admitted, both in the first and in the second instance.
In this way, it is confirmed that the agreement proposed by the company does not meet the conditions to be approved. The process could now move towards a stage of salvage (Cramdown), in which interested third parties could present proposals to take care of the company or its assets, in a last attempt to avoid bankruptcy.
They anticipated that, after the ruling of the Rafaela Chamber, a ten -day period will open so that any interested company can present a new acquisition proposal.
This stage, known as Cramdown, will allow external actors – or even current shareholders – try to take care of the firm.
Among the possible bidders are mentioned to Bunge, Viterra and the Association of Argentine Cooperatives (ACA), which had already been linked to Vicentin in previous attempts to leave the contest.
Another of the names that again gain prominence is the Grassi broker. This company would be preparing an offer in conjunction with an investment group, with the intention of leading a proposal that exceeds the rejected payment conditions in the previous process.
At the time, Vicentin had promised to pay US $ 320 million in the first two years, with a payment for each of the creditors of US $ 30 thousand, and complete a total of US $ 512 million within twelve years, using a trust as a financial vehicle.
Now, the future of the company is again uncertain, beyond the plants again being operational after a month of recess, based on an agreement promoted by the judicial intervention and the Santa Fe government of Maximiliano Pullaro, and its Minister of Labor, Roald “Coco” Bascolo, who achieved the commitment of 8 companies to provide grains for 6 months, to support the jobs and allow the payment of salaries to more than one thousand workers.