Espírito Santo Financial Files for Bankruptcy
Espírito Santo Financial, which was a large shareholder of the bailed-out Portuguese lender Banco Espírito Santo, lost a bid last week for creditor protection in Luxembourg.
The Espírito Santo Financial Group, which at one point held about 25 percent of the bailed-out Portuguese lender Banco Espírito Santo, said on Thursday that it would file for bankruptcy after it was denied creditor protection by a Luxembourg court last week.
Espírito Santo Financial is part of a complex web of companies controlled by the Espírito Santo family.
“It is expected that the Luxembourg district court sitting in commercial matters will pass a bankruptcy order and appoint one or more receivers” at a hearing on Friday, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Similar requests for creditor protection are pending for the corporate parent, Espírito Santo International, and another Espírito Santo family-controlled entity, Rioforte Investment. Both companies were indirect shareholders in Espírito Santo Financial.
Soon after stepping down from the bank, Mr. Salgado was arrested and ordered to post bail of 3 million euros, or $3.8 million, as part of an investigation into money laundering and tax evasion.
The rescue of Banco Espírito Santo came just months after Portugal itself emerged from a €78 billion, three-year bailout financed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Source: NYT- Espírito Santo Financial Files for Bankruptcy
