IV Restructuring Forum | El Economista

At the IV Restructuring Forum organised by El Economista, our partner Paula Zarzalejos highlighted the difficulty of integrating public credit into restructuring plans — a limitation that, according to the speakers, continues to hinder the effectiveness of the new insolvency framework.

During the event, held in Madrid, various experts from the financial and legal sectors agreed that the insolvency law represents a significant step forward in terms of flexibility and the anticipation of corporate crises. However, they warned that the lack of adaptation of public credit — particularly that of ICO, SEPI, and Cofides — continues to create bottlenecks and uncertainty.

Paula Zarzalejos, Partner in Banking and Finance at Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, pointed out that the legislation allows for a broad definition of the scope of restructurings, but its practical application is constrained by the limitations imposed by public credit. In the case of the ICO, she explained that the inability to extend repayment terms beyond 2028 without authorisation from the AEAT is delaying the approval of plans that otherwise have sufficient financial backing.

Meanwhile, Josu Echeverría (Argoss Partners) and Miguel Cebrián (Blantyre Capital) agreed that the lack of uniform criteria and administrative rigidity increase the cost of these processes. Nevertheless, they emphasised that the new framework has attracted international investors’ interest and is helping to foster a more efficient and transparent restructuring culture in Spain.

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