The board of the Vicentin cereal company met this Tuesday with the administrative and factory personnel after the oil union questioned the lack of references to the assets of the so-called north node, in the definitive contracts with the strategic stakeholders in passing to control the company. This omission had generated concern and questions among employees regarding their future and the development of activities.
Estanislao Bougain, one of the three independent directors of Vicentin, explained that yesterday’s meeting had an open agenda, at the request of the workers: “in Avellaneda we have around 200 union members and around 100 outside the agreement. The assembly that was held brought together the two groups. Their concern is for being out of the plans of the strategic stakeholders (Viterra, Bunge and the Association of Argentine Cooperatives). I explained to them that the three large companies that have come to participate in the rescue of Vicentin, indeed, have no interest in the activity of the north node, because the three are concentrated in Rosario and have their operations center from there. That does not mean that the north node is out of work, because we have a pending agreement with Banco Nación. We explained to them that the north node must continue working, at least, 12 years from now to be able to pay the privileged debt that Vicentin has with Banco Nación”.
During the assembly, Bougain confirmed to the workers that the north node is strategic for Vicentin’s debt repayment and that its fate is tied to the south node and vice versa: “I think a good level of compression has been reached and now we are waiting for the approval to arrive,” he said.
Within this framework, Bougain confirmed the request made to the bankruptcy judge to “resolve” the approval of the bankruptcy agreement as soon as possible. Fabián Lorenzini defined that this determination would be made by the “incidental route”, that is, in a parallel file that could take months, while the company faces the burden of lack of grains due to the effects of the drought. One more check to the complex bankruptcy process.
“Understanding the fate of the contest by the workers of the north node, comes a second conversation that is how we reach the moment of homologation, because, with the drought that we have ahead of us, Vicentin begins to see his box weakened with the passage of the days. It is a reality that we cannot hide. There is a chance, which we hope will not happen, that when the approval arrives we will no longer be in the market, because we will not be able to pay our salaries anymore and we will have to close the company. This is a central element that I explained very well to the workers yesterday, ”he concluded.
Also listen to the full story:
