Juan Antonio Acedo: "Sareb tiene en sus manos salvar Urbas y activar 20.000 viviendas"

Juan Antonio Acedo, the chief executive and largest shareholder of the struggling construction firm Urbas, is presenting a new plan to ensure the company's survival and activate 20,000 affordable housing units. The future of Urbas hangs in the balance as the commercial court judge deliberates on the company's creditor debt.

Urbas is currently owed six million euros by the public housing and land promotion company Sareb. If Sareb votes in favor of the proposed agreement, a total of 24 million euros will be provided as support, compared to the 18 million euros that opposed it. This would guarantee the agreement's approval, avoiding further challenges from the concurrence administration and Roundshield, a distressed debt recovery fund, according to Acedo.

The company emphasizes that it's preferable to keep Urbas operational rather than being liquidated by Kepler Karst and Auren, a distressed debt recovery fund seeking to recover the same debt three times, as they are currently fighting three legal battles against Roundshield in Luxembourg, London, and Madrid. Spanish courts are also challenging Roundshield for alleged fraud.

Acedo appeals to Sareb, hoping the public housing and land promotion company will back Urbas' viability plan, given that with Germux and Larisa (42% of 126.9 million euros) as further creditors, Urbas has the support of 61% of the creditor group. They only meet the legal requirement of over 50% with these creditors included. Therefore, Sareb's vote becomes crucial for Urbas' future.

Urbas claims Sareb initially voted against the viability plan due to a negative preliminary report from the concurrence administration on March 30th, which questioned the value of the group's assets. However, the final ruling from the Audiencia Nacional has forced the concurrence administration to acknowledge the assets are worth 520 million euros, while the debt is only 126.9 million, resulting in a net positive worth of 400 million euros, Acedo highlights.

As a last resort, Acedo plans to submit another viability plan overseen by Crowe, which is only allowed by creditors holding over 20% of the debt. Urbas has revised its plan to focus on direct soil sales instead of developing all the projects, ensuring immediate liquidity to pay back the debt within three years (10% in the first year, 15% in the second, and 75% in the third).

The company states there is a non-binding offer of over 100 million euros to purchase 1.7 million square meters of land in Meco, Madrid, to build 6,000 affordable homes.