The Italian Sea Group has been short of cash since November
This has been noted by the Court of Florence. The creditors have rejected the proposal for a restructuring plan subject to court approval
The Italian Sea Group lacks the resources to maintain liquidity for the period November 2026 to March 2027. This was formally admitted before the Florence Insolvency Court by the company led by Giovanni Costantino, which has for some time been operating under a ‘blank composition with creditors’ agreement on a going-concern basis. The issue is made clear in the magistrates’ report, following the hearing on 28 October, which states that ‘regardless of the origins of the crisis and the factors contributing to the financial imbalance’, the situation has emerged ‘in clear terms from an examination of the entire case file’. Meanwhile, creditors have rejected the proposal for a restructuring plan subject to court approval (Pro).
In the submission (filed on 21 October) by the luxury yachting company, the court notes, the text reads as follows: ‘For October 2026, the cash forecast envisaged that current requirements would be met through resources derived from core operations; for the period November 2026 to March 2027, the company explicitly set out the additional funding required to ensure operational continuity during the interim phase, precisely in order to enable the transaction with the potential investor to be funded”.
Binding offers for assets and the search for a share deal
The company – for which five binding offers have been received, two of which are in the running: that from Sri Global, for all the assets (for which it is offering 260 million), and the one from Azimut Benetti, for almost all of them (excluding the shipyards in Turkey and the Celi joinery workshop, and which, it appears, has just been raised to 210 million) – has also clarified the approach it has chosen to address its crisis. It is proposing, in fact, ‘a composition with creditors on a going-concern basis’ or ‘a restructuring plan subject to court approval (Pro)’, both of which are, however, based on the most advantageous bid resulting from the Project George procedure (the name given to the restructuring scheme set up by Tisg, editor’s note )”.
The court notes that the potential selection of Pro ‘would be instrumental in the search for an investor who, through a capital injection (share deal), would restructure the company and, by adequately settling creditors’ claims, would enable genuine direct continuity’. In this way, moreover, Tisg’s owner, Costantino, would have the opportunity to remain at the helm of the group – a possibility ruled out in the binding offers from Sri and Azimut.
Creditors say no
The court also emphasises, however, that the creditors ‘have clearly expressed their opposition to the Pro proposal and their support for a composition with creditors on a basis of indirect continuity, through the acceptance of one of the offers received for the purchase of the entire estate (asset deal), which would enable the key, identifiable needs of the creditors to be met: the immediate resumption, through leasing, of the company’s core business, which would enable the continued construction of vessels at the shipyard and prevent a rise in pre-deductible costs; the safeguarding of employment levels; and the identification of a value to be distributed within an extremely short timeframe’.
