Four banks have exposure to PIC's insolvency

PIC, the Arges-based group held by brothers Ilie and Cornel Penescu, the fifth Romanian retailer that filed for insolvency on its own this year, has loans worth around 30 million euros taken out from four Romanian banks. "We are at the stage where we are drawing up debt lists, which will be finalised over the next couple of weeks. That is why I don't know at this time what the overall debt amounts to. But the bank loans are worth around 30 million euros and are taken out from BCR, Banca Transilvania, UniCredit and Piraeus Bank," said Ilie Penescu, co-owner of the group. He mentioned that the banking debt is more or less similar to the overdue debt that PIC owes to its around 400 suppliers. None of the banks had answered ZF's request for further information. The shareholders of the PIC group filed for insolvency last week amid a 30% sales decline over the course of this year and amid pressure from creditors. The group ended last year with 154 million-euro turnover and over 90 million-euro debt, according to data available on the website of the Finance Ministry.