2023-05-22 17:04:00
Sabena remains, 100 years following its birth and 21 following having ceased its activities by decision of the commercial court of Brussels, the biggest bankruptcy that the kingdom of Belgium has known. The guardianship, which has brought 14 cases to Cassation and recovered 1.1 billion euros, including 800 million paid to creditors to date, hopes to close the entire file in 2024. Is the task of a curator to sell as quickly as possible, even if it means selling off or enhancing the assets of the bankrupt company while looking out for the interests of creditors. The trio of Sabena curators has chosen the second option for 21 years. “We did well to persist. By managing the assets as a good father to sell them at the right time, we have recovered some 1.1 billion to date. If we had liquidated quickly as some recommended at the time, we would have recovered only 100 million“, argues Christian Van Buggenhout who hopes to close the file in 2024.
“It took time, we worked in two stages, but the bankruptcy is monstrously vast and complicated“, adds the business lawyer who has spent the last four years managing the Memling hotel in Kinshasa himself to prevent it from losing value for lack of proper management.”By maximizing the heritage, we have recovered to date 1.1 billion euros and we have paid more than 800 million euros to creditors. All 1,100 staff members received their severance pay for a total of 516,000 euros. As far as pre-pensioners are concerned, we have reached a dividend of 36.5% and we hope that it will rise to 42% by the end of the process.“
How Sabena Became the Biggest Bankruptcy in Belgian History
Property slippage
The Belgian Société Anonyme d’Exploitation de la Navigation Aerienne owned much more than planes: four hotels, apartments and villas on several continents, a canvas signed Magritte and many other assets. One of its latest jewels, a 180-room hotel in Kinshasa, has just been sold. Thanks to a shift in ownership and a partnership of which the business lawyer does not wish to reveal the secrets.
“We might have sold this hotel eight times over if European states and banks were not so careful regarding the origin of the funds. They refused to understand that the DRC is a state of cash. They even went so far as to close the historical accounts of the hotel“, s’indigne Me Van Buggenhout.
The curator likes to cite the example of the aircraft maintenance division of Sabena Technics to illustrate his profitable strategy. “We didn’t let it go into liquidation just yet. We first straightened it out and waited for the recovery of the aviation sector before selling it to the French group TAT.“The aircraft engines brought in 50 million euros on lease, then another 15 million when sold.
There remains to be sold a building with 26 apartments in Kinshasa, a luxurious villa (value of 2.2 million euros) occupied by a former pilot who rented it and claims to have become its owner, and a few other odds and ends. “Everything should be completed in the course of 2024“, assured the business lawyer.
“At the time of Sabena, we were always full”: the blues shot of the bars of Zaventem
The Belgian State under attack
The conservatorship also reduced the company’s liabilities from 3 billion euros to 600 million. Exceptional, according to the main interested party who has not only made friends. “We went 14 times in Cassation. These are procedures that have each taken many years to complete. It needs patience“, testifies Me Van Buggenhout who recovered 1.4 billion euros by contesting the debt to the “leasors” of Airbus.
The guardianship did not hesitate to attack – successfully – the Belgian State to recover the amounts of the closure fund. But one of the standoffs that has not been won is the one once morest SAIRGroup, the former parent company of Swissair, shareholder of Sabena alongside the Belgian State.
The Belgians were forced, by the Brussels Court of Appeal, to accept a debt of more than 17 million euros introduced by the liquidator of Swissair when they estimate that it was Swissair which owed 47 million to the Sabena.
“The Swiss Justice rejected us badly. She evokes territoriality when it suits her, not when it comes to making us assume our own“, regrets the business lawyer. He has been claiming for years that the Belgian company was looted by the Swiss company when it was supposed to recapitalize it.
Low-altitude flight to read the name of the stations, luggage of De Croo “kidnapped”, “Swiss gangsters” in white collar: the Sabena would have been 100 years old
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