Duro Felguera accelerated the deadlines to respond to the litigation he has open in Algeria for non-compliance in the construction of a thermal power plant in Djelfa, in the north of the country. The listed Spanish company presented its response on Monday to the demands of Sonelgaz, which claims 413 million euros, rejecting the amounts demanded by the African firm.
Sources from Duro Felguera herself explain to elEconomista.es that on Monday Sonelgaz’s complaint was answered before the Chambre Algérienne de Commerce et d’Industrie (CACI, for its acronym in French). Although they do not detail the content of the allegations, the company already said in a statement sent to the CNMV that in its opposition letter it will reject the claim “understanding that the suspension of the contract is in accordance with the law due to the breaches in which Sonelgaz has participated.” .
In addition, the listed company chaired by Eduardo Espinosa intended to claim around 200 million euros in damages from the African energy company.
Duro Felguera thus defends his theses before open arbitration in the country. It does so a month later than expected, since the initial deadline was set for December 10, but it was granted one more month until January 13. In parallel with Sonelgaz’s demands, the company is trying to find a friendly solution, for which it has asked for help from both the Spanish and Mexican authorities – Grupo Prodi, its reference shareholder (55%), is from there. At the moment it seems that the talks did not come to fruition.
And although the dispute has not yet been resolved, the claim of the Algerian firm has already cost the Asturian organization to enter into pre-bankruptcy after making a provision of 99 million euros due to the obligation of the CNMV and its auditors, KPMG. With it, the accounting equity fell to negative 220 million. Not even the accounting treatment given to the 120 million lent by Sepi, the 13 million from the bank and the 6 million from the Principality of Asturias could compensate for the hole generated.
Before, with the news breaking out, the stock market regulator suspended it from trading for three weeks.
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