At about 10 in the morning yesterday, the months of anxiety around the rescue plans of the low-cost store chain ended Fair & Good (J & B), which never arrived.
Given this circumstance, Santiago Londoño Correa, Delegate Superintendent of Insolvency Procedures of the Superintendency of Companies, had no alternative other than to order to reactivate the liquidation of the company and initiate the process of returning the premises in which the stores operated to their respective owners, for which it set a maximum term of 20 days.
(You can also read: Justo & Bueno is no more: they order to reactivate liquidation and return premises)
The liquidation of said stores, controlled by Mercadería, a firm created by Michel Olmi, was sung since Wednesday of this week, after a few hours after the public hearing was resumed in which the fate of J & B would be defined, Alfonso Giraldo, representative of Lobbying & Consulting, interested in rescuing said trade and last hope of workers, landlords and suppliers, announced that he would not present a proposal for it.
The reason would be given by Darío Laguado himself, liquidating agent designated for the Justo & Bueno process, who during his first speech at yesterday’s hearing reported that the rescue of the organization required, at a minimum, a contribution close to 303,150 million pesos.
Neither of the two proponents (Marco Gerardo Monroy and Alfonso Giraldo) who for months fed the illusion of thousands of families for eventual salvation raised their hands. On the contrary, both desisted from presenting a plan that would allow the continuity of that business, which had been taking the body out of an imminent bankruptcy since mid-2021.
Given the confirmation of said withdrawals yesterday, Londoño Correa, the judge in the case, proceeded to set the conditions under which the liquidation of Justo & Bueno will take place.
(Also read: Fair & Good: why does your last salvation alternative falter?)
As a first measure, the official ordered the settlement agent to structure a schedule that allows for the orderly return of all the premises in which the Justo & Bueno stores operated, for which he established a maximum period of 20 days.
For the preparation of this schedule, he set a term of 24 hours, a term that Laguado, the liquidator, considered insufficient because J & B was an organization with a presence in more than 450 municipalities in the country, which would make this task difficult.
Due to this, he asked the judge for an extension to present said plan until next Monday, August 8.
He also asked to keep the work contracts of a group of collaborators that have already been identified, since their assistance is required to advance the preparation of the delivery schedule of the premises and their return.
Londoño Correa also told the owners of the premises that, before the declaration of the liquidation of this chain of stores, they cannot go to the de facto routes to recover their properties, since their return has already been ordered through a plan tidy.
While the leasing companies that have leased goods, furniture and equipment that allowed the operation of the stores, such as refrigerators, ATMs, gondolas, cash registers, among others, the judge told them that they can proceed to withdraw them on their own. but in an orderly way.
(Be sure to read: What worries Fitch Ratings about the Petro reforms)
Although in recent weeks the liquidating agent had already returned to their owners some 40 premises that remained with their doors closed, it is estimated that there are still more than 1,000 of these properties throughout the territory whose owners will have to assume not only the restoration of the same due to their deterioration, but also the debts of taxes and public services that were not paid since last February, which led to their suspension.
what’s coming
During the hearing held yesterday, some employees and owners of premises expressed their concern about what they are owed in terms of salaries and social benefits, as well as rental fees, since many of the owners depend on these incomes for their daily sustenance.
The liquidator’s figures show that the end of this organization will leave some 5,700 workers who were active until last April without work, the definitive closure of the premises that were still operating until Wednesday night and more than 280 suppliers, of which more than 450 that the company had at its most successful moment, pending payment of millions of resources from a debt that has been growing in recent months.
It is not for less. The credits of Justo & Bueno Only so far this year they went from about 134,000 million pesos in April to 303,149 million four months later, a growth of 124.5 percent in that period. And the risk that all of that debt will be lost is imminent.
Something that Michel Olmi, creator of this business model, had anticipated in an interview with EL TIEMPO in mid-May, pointing out that because Justo & Bueno did not reach its maturity stage, “it does not have a significant base of fixed assets to support credits before a liquidation scenario”.
But Marco Gerardo Monroy and Alfonso Giraldo, despite the liquidation decision, continue to feed the illusion of those who seek to recover some of that money. They said they are willing to start a business under the same scheme as J & B with the capital contribution of a world-class strategic ally, the workers, owners of premises and suppliers who want to bet on it. How will they do it? As with previous proposals, details were not disclosed.