The bailout granted during the pandemic by the state holding company SEPI to Plus Ultra as part of the support for strategic companies in trouble is at the center of the plot surrounding José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero investigated by judge José Luis Calama. According to the judge, the executives of this small airline tried to obtain the aid of 53 million granted by SEPI through “mechanisms outside the legally established channels,” either through the intermediation of José Luis Ábalos or Zapatero himself, which was the channel used. The former Prime Minister played a “predominant role” and “allowed Plus Ultra to achieve the pursued objectives.” How did this SEPI aid program work? Why was it so decisive for many companies and so controversial in some cases?
The Strategic Companies Solvency Support Fund (Fasee) was created in 2020, at the worst of the pandemic, to offer help to companies classified as strategic and in difficulty due to covid. It was receiving applications until June 2022, and was key for tourism companies such as hotel chains and airlines that saw their business disappear overnight. For it, a committee was created to analyze the requests, which were approved by the Council of Ministers.
The aid is actually loans on favorable terms that must be repaid. Two formulas were used: the participative loan and the ordinary loan. The first links the payment of interest to the recovery of the company—the creditor “participates” in the result—and, if not paid, allows SEPI to capitalize the credit, that is, exchange it for shares, which it has never done at any time. About 1.7 billion was granted through this route. Both this formula and the conventional one include an upward interest path, starting at very reasonable rates and ending at 950 basis points above the Euribor in the eighth year. Therefore, it is worthwhile for companies to repay the money.
In the case of Plus Ultra, the controversy is not about whether it would repay the money, but about the use of that amount for purposes other than the operation of the company and the commissions to the people who helped obtain the bailout, with payments that would end up with Zapatero. That Plus Ultra, an unknown company, was the first to receive the aid already drew attention from the beginning.
Fasee, managed by SEPI, had an endowment of 10 billion, of which it ended up granting aid for almost 2.7 billion, of which it has already recovered about 65%, that is, 1.737 billion. The last company to proceed with early repayment has been Grupo Mediterránea, paying 28 million euros.
SEPI has always defended the “usefulness of the temporary mechanism.” The 26 rescued companies, it indicates in its reports, are now increasing their workforce, some of them with explosive takeoffs, as happens with tourism or hotel companies.
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From the success of Hotusa or Técnicas Reunidas to the controversy of Air Europa and the difficulties of Tubos Reunidos
An example outside the tourism sector is the multinational engineering company Técnicas Reunidas, which competes internationally in very complex projects and which, thanks to this loan that it has already repaid, was able to guarantee large projects abroad.
Of the companies that received aid, apart from Técnicas Reunidas and Grupo Mediterránea, Ávoris, Eurodivisas, Wamos, Rugui Steel, Ferroatlántica, Soho, Hesperia, and Hotusa have already canceled the loan.
Air Europa has also repaid the money, 475 million in this case. Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has tried to investigate whether there were irregularities in the bailout of Air Europa by the Government and whether the president’s wife, Begoña Gómez, could have had any involvement in it. He has been trying to open this line for two years, although the courts themselves have already warned him that it goes beyond the scope of his investigations.
However, there have been companies with more difficulties. Duro Felguera had difficulties recovering its economic situation and ended up in the hands of Mexican investors, while Tubos Reunidos has just filed for bankruptcy, being unable to keep the business afloat, which now carries the debt with SEPI, about 120 million. The holding clarifies that under no circumstances can it be forgiven.
Regarding the bailout of Plus Ultra, judge Calama has identified a contract for the provision of advisory and strategic approach services to access Fasee between Julio Martínez Martínez and the airline, in which a remuneration of 1% plus VAT is stipulated. Martínez, according to the order, relied on the help of Zapatero, to whom he has been making payments through his company Análisis Relevante since then.
