The sale of the Espírito Santo family’s ‘jewel in the crown,’ the Comporta estate, has collapsed as Portugal's Public Prosecutor’s office refused to release the land for sale.
Despite receiving to go-ahead from the Luxembourg administrator of the collapsed Grupo Espírito Santo property offshoot, Rioforte, Pedro de Almeida from Ardma Imobiliária has run out of time and the 90-day period set out in the promissory contract now has expired.
The July 10th contract for the purchase and sale of 59% of the Comporta real estate fund would have resulted in a sale for a ‘nominal sum’ - to the detriment of Rioforte creditors.
This erasure of value was something the Luxembourg administration service was aware of yet was happy to approve the deal with Almeida, despite its role of getting best value for money for Rioforte creditors.
When the Comporta estate first was put up for sale, attracting discussions over a €400 million deal with a US heavyweight investment fund, the advisor chosen by Luxembourg was Haitong Bank. This protected Espírito Santo interests as Haitong, the former BES-International, was being run by Ricardo Salgados’ cousin, Jose Maria Ricciardi.
Haitong successfully managed to deter serious bidders while giving breathing space to arrange a deal that would protect Comporta’s Espírito Santo family shareholders.
Pedro de Almeida agreed to a deal but this has been thwarted due to the "non-determination of the arrest by the competent entities in due time established for this transaction."
This suggests that the Public Prosecutor, who blocked any sale of the estate when the State froze all traceable property assets related to Ricardo Salgado and his collapsed empire, has seen the laughably low price agreed with Almeida and realised something is up.
The real concern is the behaviour of the Luxembourg administration service which either is out of its depth or acting in concert.
As for Almeida's probity, in December 2016, the businessman boasted among friends, “I am going to get it,” admitting that he knew many of the Espírito Santo family members who also are shareholders in the companies that control Comporta and that he is friends with José Maria Ricciardi at Haitong Bank, before Ricciardi's 'sudden departure' from the bank that December.
This was just the sort of deal that the 'clan' was looking for, a wealthy and sympathetic insider who could buy cheap, strip creditors of value and build up the estate through property development to the benefit of the extended Espírito Santo family whose members are angry that they have been let down by Ricardo Salgado's rash behaviour.
Pedro de Almeida signed the contract on July 10 for the purchase of 59% of Comporta's real estate fund but as the stipulated three months have come and gone, and the Public Prosecutor's Office has not released the estate from its ban on being sold, it’s back to square one as this highly suspicious deal crashes and burns.
See also:
'Herdade de Comporta real estate company to be sold 'at a symbolic price' 11 July 2017
'Bidders named in Comporta Estate stitch-up' 14 December 2016
