Portugal is facing major challenges due to the pandemic situation. Financial specialists are now preparing themselves to offer the country some solutions to be able to face these challenges. Fingeste, our partner in Portugal, was invited to participate in a prestigious magazine about the financial players in Portugal, and they presented the MAWW service URGENT TASK FORCE as a distinctive Cross-Border offer to distressed companies. They also participated in a live Webinar on 03-Mar with Natixis, BNP Paribas and other financial entities where they focused on URGENT TASK FORCE as a formula to rescue and sell companies during this pandemic times.
Should moratoriums be postponed? Can the banks wait another year with the loans in a moratorium if the economy remains closed or semi-closed until 2022? How long will the banking system last?
In our opinion, the reimbursement of moratoriums should be postponed and adjusted to the ability of companies to defrost their activities. It should not be a blind measure but calibrated according to the stage of recovery of companies and the economy. There are companies operating in sectors of activity that are benefiting from the pandemic or will recover very quickly. In these, the reimbursement of moratoriums should be accelerated. There are other companies that have frozen and will have a slower recovery. In these, the reimbursement of moratoriums must be in need and/or be lengthened.
The challenge for banking is not whether to continue with loans in moratoriums, but how to respond to this challenge, how to capitalize and how to continue helping companies. It is inevitable that the banking system will have more NLP and must find a way to withstand that pressure.
Knowing the weaknesses of banking and companies we are convinced that the path is through companies capitalizing with Equity / Mezzanine instruments, thus becoming stronger to resist shocks and with more balanced balance sheets to give a cushion to the banks and other creditors. It is in this area that Fingeste operates. The financial ecosystem is more balanced when companies find alternative financing mechanisms, whether with Private Equity, With Direct Loans, with Hybrid mechanisms, or with the dispersion of capital on the stock exchange, etc. and not strangled in a relationship of dependence with banking, which is not good for banking or for companies
Thank you Carlos Carvalho for this interview. Carlos Carvalho is the managing partner of Fingeste, our partner in Portugal.
About Fingeste:
Fingeste is an Investment Boutique specializing in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Restructuring and Capital Fundraising or Debt focused on Mid-Market with extensive experience in Portugal.
Present in 36 countries and with 49 offices, through the exclusive representation in Portugal of M&A Worldwide, a global brand of investment bank boutiques, with a track record exceeding 10B€ in the last 3 years, Fingeste works with International Industrial and Financial Investors, with the capacity and interest to invest in Portuguese companies, increase its ambition to conquer international markets, and transforms them into leaders of the industry.
Through the permanent collaboration with the various offices and international specialists, organized in 12 Industry Groups, located in the main financial centres, we ensure the best practices of capitalization, financing, growth and restructuring of companies. It has developed together with 12 countries and several investors who ensure its supply chain, the URGENT TASK FORCEservice, to support the sale and Restructuring of Companies in complex situations or distress in the context of the pandemic.
It has a team that brings together the best skills in your sector of activity, with financing, investment, and growth strategies for the sectors of Industry, Environment, Energy, Chemistry, Technology, Agroindustry, Retail, Automotive, Logistics, Services, Health and Packaging.