Offers for bankrupt Mallorcan pearls company "not interesting"

Majorica, which filed for bankruptcy in November last year. | Maria Nadal

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma12/05/2021 12:10

The judge overseeing the sale of Majorica, the pearls company which filed for bankruptcy in November last year, says that none of the offers received are "interesting". They need to be improved and so there may be a form of auction between the two parties which have thus far made the best offers.

The judge at the commercial court has deviated from the criteria which had been set by the bankruptcy administrator, who was prepared to make the award to Majorperla, which is owned by a director of the French retail giant Carrefour. The works council has opposed this, as there was a commitment to maintaining only 96 of the 277 jobs. The judge agrees that this is "totally unsatisfactory".

Improvements to offers by two interested parties (Majorperla being one of them) need to be made within five days, and the judge will then decide. The bankruptcy administrator, however, wants this process to be open to all bidders.

The award process established two criteria: the financial offer and the maintenance of jobs. The administrator, Fernando Martínez Sanz, opted for Majorperla as its was the highest financial offer and was the only one that responded to the debts that had caused Majorica's bankruptcy.

The judge, Victor Heredia del Real, takes a different view. None of the five companies which have made bids have guaranteed an optimal balance between the two criteria. He states that the Majorperla offer "from a bankruptcy point of view is the one which best satisfies the interests of creditors and is therefore the best, based on this criterion". However, "more prominence" needs to be given to maintaining jobs.