Orco Property Group has been granted court protection from its creditors to give it more time to finalise a major restructuring plan. Paris Commercial Court granted Orco and a French subsidiary a Procedure de Sauvegarde for an initial six months. The status is renewable.
Orco Property Group has been granted court protection from its creditors to give it more time to finalise a major restructuring plan. Paris Commercial Court granted Orco and a French subsidiary a Procedure de Sauvegarde for an initial six months. The status is renewable.
Jean-Francois Ott, Orco's chairman, said in a statement that Orco would have the time it needed 'to restore the group's financial health' and to advance discussions with creditors and potential investors to improve the balance sheet. Orco also plans to sell assets, exit some markets and to withdraw from the logistics and hospitality segments.
Ott said Orco faced a combination of factors. Firstly, its divestment programme had been slowed by the general market conditions. In addition, the group was experiencing difficulty in obtaining repayment of shareholder loans from some subsidiaries. Finally, the group was working to extend credit lines that mature in 2009.
Orco is a major investor, developer and asset manager in Central Europe, and manages assets of EUR 2.5 bn. The group has a listing on the NYSE Euronext, Prague, Warsaw and Budapest stock exchanges.
