The economy minister said on Wednesday that the government is committed to the German fund Mutares, which bought Efacec, and that jobs will be maintained despite the possibility of “specific adjustments”.
“Mutares is committed to retaining its workforce worldwide”said António Costa Silva at a press conference at the Ministry of Economy in Lisbon.
However, the government official admitted that “there may be a one-off adjustment eventually,” but added that the Mutares Investment Fund told the government it wants to “strengthen technical jobs” and has planned professional requalification programs.
Parpública (state-owned company) sold the entire Efacec (nationalized in 2020) to the German investment fund Mutares on Tuesday, following approval from the European Commission. Efacec has approximately 2,000 employees.
The state invested another 160 million euros in the company, and last Wednesday the government explained that without Efacec’s financial situation it would not be able to sell it.
This amount is in addition to the 200 million euros that the State has already invested in the company over the past twenty months (to pay fixed costs, including salaries). Still at state level, Banco de Fomento has 35 million euros in bonds (convertible into capital) from Efacec.
Mutares expects Efacec to break even within five years and has an obligation to remain in the business (without selling) for a minimum of three years.
Also at the press conference, the Secretary of State for Finance, João Nuno Mendes, also explained that the deal agreed on the possibility of recovering the money invested by the state (in a cascade mechanism), with the state able to recover two-thirds. of the profit from a sale and 75% of any possible distribution of dividends or cash (within approximately five years).
The Foreign Minister also repeatedly emphasized that Efacec has paid the state approximately 100 million euros in IRS and social security since its nationalization.
The Minister of Economy emphasized the importance of Efacec as a “major technological company”, as dropping it would have been “disastrous for the Portuguese economy” and especially for the North region.
“The Porto and Matosinhos region has already suffered from the closure of the Galp refinery. The collapse of Efacec would have devastating consequences”he stated, recalling that in addition to the employees, there are 2,800 suppliers who work with Efacec.
Costa e Silva believed that the state exists precisely to address market failures and that it is essential to save a company with 2,000 jobs; “it is a hallmark of Portuguese engineering and creates value”.
“If we blindly trust the markets and let them solve everything, not only will they not solve them, but they will also cause great misery for the people”he claimed.
In this sale operation, the minority shareholder MGI Capital (half owned by the José de Mello Group and Têxtil Manuel Gonçalves, which owns 28.27% of Efacec) no longer has any interest in Efacec, having not received any value for it.
Source: DN
