The banks do not agree to Rafaco’s terms. The President spoke about the “death certificate”

On December 18, the Rafako company from Racibórz announced that there was no agreement with PKO BP, BGK, mBank and PZU, which are the guarantors of the contract for the construction of a new 910 MW power unit in Jaworzno. The companies did not agree to the unconditional conversion of receivables into newly issued company shares. They also do not agree to defer payment of installments required by the accounts receivable agreement due on December 29, 2023.

Rafako: the company may collapse “at the end of the struggle for survival”

“This time, a company whose bankruptcy has been predicted many times, and whose previous board even twice announced the start of bankruptcy proceedings, may actually fail - and at the end of the struggle for survival,” he said. read in the published statement.

The board, appointed four weeks ago, has developed proposals for restructuring the company. The board is convinced that the condition for finding an investor is the preliminary write-off of the company’s debts. However, as Jacek Balcer, director of corporate communications and representative of the Rafako group, regrets, the guarantors agree to convert debt into shares, but only when the investor joins the company. “Meanwhile, in the opinion of the board, a potential investor will not be interested in the company in its current, difficult situation, with the promise of debt forgiveness, which remains only a declaration, and not a fait accompli,” Baltzer said.

The Racibórz-based company employs more than 900 employees.

The Rafako board claims that the decision will save more than 900 jobs and give the company a real chance not only to restore Rafako’s operations, including to receive new orders that the company has not received for a long time. time.

Rafako President Robert Kuraszkiewicz believes that the lack of agreement of the four guarantors is “a nail in Rafako’s coffin,” and those who signed this decision “signed the death certificate of our company and decided the fate of several hundred families of the company’s employees and several hundred more families of our subcontractors.” . “If the banks do not change their minds, they will be responsible for the failure of the company’s rescue process, which lasted several months and was almost completed,” the president commented.

Management says Rafako can be saved

Rafako’s debt to contractors, banks and institutions under the agreement amounts to about PLN 500 million, and its capital is in the red. An extraordinary general meeting of Rafako shareholders is scheduled for December 21, during which decisions will be made regarding the company’s future activities within the framework of the rescue plan prepared by the company’s board.

In a statement, Rafako argues that everything can be sorted out if a series of decisions are made to immediately restructure.

“A condition of these decisions is the understanding of the company’s most pressing needs by its key stakeholders, including PBG bondholders (mainly Polish banks such as Pekao SA and PKO BP), PFR TFI, ARP and KUKE. All of these institutions are currently cooperating with the Rafako board and supporting the company’s rescue process. However, this will not be enough, since the company’s survival requires the consent of the creditors to carry out the conversion, i.e. to use instruments that must be approved by shareholders. This is absolutely necessary for the effective implementation of the capital restructuring and, as a result, the restructuring of Rafaco’s business,” the statement said.

According to the company’s board, “the just announced negative decision of PKO BP, BGK, mBank and PZU SA makes it impossible to effectively carry out such actions.”