Leonardo commits to pay over 200,000 euros per month to banks

31 aug 2010 Autor: Cristina Stoian

Leonardo, the biggest Romanian footwear retailer, held by businessman Florin Panea, which has received approval for judicial reorganisation from most creditors, one year from becoming insolvent, will start to pay part of the debts accumulated as early as in October, with banks being the first to recover their money.

"We agreed with the banking institutions on 205,000-euro monthly instalments in the first year of reorganisation. Instalments are lower than of those paid prior to the opening of insolvency proceedings, because during this whole period we have been paying interest. We are now going to make payments to employees and towards the end of the reorganisation period we will pay the debts to the state," Radu Lotrean, managing partner of Casa de Insolvenţă Transilvania insolvency firm, in charge of the company's judicial reorganisation, told ZF.
The insolvency law allowed the Oradea-based company to restructure its overall debt from the 100 million euros accumulated until 2009, to around 40 million euros, with the money to be paid to banking institutions, employees, and the state over the next four years, with the possibility of extending the period.