The Commercial Court of Las Palmas issued an order last Friday, October 27, approving the liquidation plan of the developer Algol Desarrollo Inmobilario, the largest landowner in Costa Teguise. This decision makes it easier for potential investors to acquire real estate assets in the tourist resort.
The judicial resolution, against which, however, an appeal is possible, reinforces the arguments of the bankruptcy administration, Law and Tax Consulting Europe S.L.P., led by professionals Javier Laiz and Antonio López, who took over the voluntary bankruptcy of Algol Desarrollo Inmobiliario in 2013.
Sources consulted by La Voz agree that, from now on, the liquidation procedure will allow the sale of assets to be expedited, as it should be remembered that the bankruptcy administration is obliged to sell them in order to meet the significant amounts of money owed to creditors. Moreover, the direct sale of the assets "will not require judicial authorization" since the order "allows the bankruptcy administration to proceed with it, unless it involves assets and rights attached to credits with special privilege", in which case it must be done "through judicial auction".
"Purchase offers must be addressed directly to the bankruptcy administration, which will inform the court of the price, the form of payment and other relevant conditions of the selected offer," the Court indicates in the order, noting that "in the event of improvements, the bankruptcy administration will choose the most convenient option for the interests of the bankruptcy and will formalize the sale in accordance with the improvement offered."
A debt close to 90 million euros and assets of 200
It should be remembered that Algol arrived in Lanzarote acquiring a very valuable piece of land in Costa Teguise, hundreds of thousands of square meters that include the Golf Course of the tourist resort. Due to the real estate crisis of late 2008, the company was forced to increase its debt to unsustainable limits, so it filed for voluntary bankruptcy in 2013, due to the impossibility of facing it.
The main debts affected up to a total of seven financial institutions, including savings banks and banks. Debts that have been changing entities due to the mergers and acquisitions processes suffered by some of them.
The bankruptcy also affected local construction and subcontracting companies, which now hope to settle their debts. And, although the company has a huge debt, its assets, which include the Costa Teguise Golf Course, have been valued at around 200 million euros, making it the most important bankruptcy in Lanzarote and one of the main ones in the entire archipelago.
A hopeful piece of news for Costa Teguise and for the City Council
The land owned by Algol represents between 80 and 90 percent of the free urban land of Costa Teguise with building rights included in the General Plan of the municipality.
In addition to the debts with financial institutions, Algol also owes the city council hundreds of thousands of euros. According to official sources from the City Council, with the approval of the bankruptcy liquidation plan, they hope to collect a significant part of the debt and definitively develop the tourist residential enclave of Costa Teguise.
