TRANSACTION INTERVIEW 77 The Rehabilitation of Camuzzi Group ABOUT THE DEAL Maccabruni & Partners and Edoardo Ricci Avvocati advised Camuzzi on the execution of its Italian restructuring plan, which was proposed by liquidators Stefano Barbiera and Claudio Calabi and accepted by a more than 90% majority of creditors, enabling the company to restructure more than €150 million of debt exposure. Both law firms, with teams helmed by Franco Fabio Maccabruni and Gabriele Prenna, partner of Edoardo Ricci Avvocati, also assisted the company in the execution of its restructuring plan from 2017 to the end of May 2023. The above-mentioned plan represented just the Italian part of the complex corporate reorganisation process managed by Chief Restructuring Officer Stefano Barbiera to restructure Camuzzi Group’s operations in Argentina, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy over the last 10 years. Due to the completion of the worldwide restructuring and valorisation plan in Argentina, Camuzzi sold its stakes in the electricity segment (more than 2.5 million clients in Argentina) and was able to restructure more than €200 million of the debt exposure of its holding’s companies in Luxembourg and Netherlands. The Italian restructuring plan was based on the valuation of Camuzzi’s real estate assets and the sale of its management buildings in Milan – located in front of the Scalo di Porta Romana, where the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Village will be built – to Bottega Veneta and Coima. The company’s bankruptcy agreement was thus concluded to creditors’ satisfaction for €85 million, owing to a more than €45 million increase in distributions compared to projections. All of these tasks, together with the main restructuring process, which included the agreements with the creditors of Camuzzi Nautica (Cantieri Navali Baglietto and Cantieri di Pisa) and the bankruptcy of Piacenza Football Club, were executed under the leadership of the CRO Stefano Barbiera, supported by Franco Maccabruni, historical legal advisors of Camuzzi Group worldwide, and Gabriele Prenna, who is also a historical lawyer of the Italian company. Camuzzi, which has been active in the gas distribution sector since its founding in 1929, is currently the biggest natural gas distribution company in Argentina. The company’s business activity concerns the distribution of natural gas to more than 2 million clients (residential, commercial and industrial customers) through an extensive system of gas pipelines and networks (56.000km). Camuzzi will now also resume investing in Italy in the real estate sector that has become its core business. Its Italian investments will be made under the leadership of Fabrizio Garilli, who aided in its recapitalisation, as well as Stefano Barbiera as CEO.
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