The new uncertainties, the result of out-of-control energy costs, are causing corporate instability to the point of putting the very future of some companies at risk. And in particular of those who were already facing crisis situations forcing them to review, with the help of professionals and consultants, the recovery plans in progress.
It’s not just high energy prices that are aggravating the crisis: the various economic sectors, especially the more traditional ones, have found themselves exposed on several fronts in recent years. «We are reviewing the budget flows – explains Marco Lantelme, partner of BSVA Associated Law Firm – especially for those with low margins, both for recovery plans and for old plans in which an intervention in progress is assumed. For restructuring plans, in certain cases it would be necessary to resort to a new validation procedure, given the extent of the amendments.’ A generalized adjustment of the recovery plans is required to take account of high bills. The complex situation prompted BSVA, which has been following clients in the banking and finance fields for years, to set up a task force dedicated to business crises and restructuring made up of lawyers and accountants who can provide legal, accounting and budget assistance.
Energy assistance
On the same longzza wave also moved Tonucci & Partners which, in order to meet its customers, has entered into a strategic alliance with EgoEnergy, an advisory group for energy issues. In fact, there is a change in the energy culture of businesses, especially SMEs. «Many of them managed energy costs like a stationery cost – comments Pasquale Silvestro, Tonucci’s partner -. Choosing your own energy supplier weighed as much as any other supplier. While it is clear that it is a decision conditioned by a series of external factors and not only by the war, as now, but also by regulatory or climatic factors”. Hence the idea that legal assistance was not enough: thus the collaboration with Ego was born, to give companies, especially SMEs, a service that combined legal and technical advice. Silvestro explains again: «Companies now need to be directed towards technical solutions that allow, in the medium term, to contain the cost of energy. We support them in the resolution of emergencies by intervening with negotiation activities for an immediate solution and then identifying, in a logic of efficiency, medium-term solutions that have obtained a positive response from the banks”.
The impact in the M&A
Even non-energy-intensive companies find themselves reviewing their priorities: the problems are also affecting the procurement of raw materials and the delivery or collection of materials. With the result that companies also have to face financial tensions by resorting to procedures that can alleviate the crisis situation. «There are many business plans that need to be reconsidered – comments Tiziana Del Prete, partner of Norton Rose Fulbright, specialized in M&A and restructuring – with an aggravation of the situation for those companies that have a significant energy consumption. The evaluation of the energy cost has become one of the elements to be analyzed first in a merger and acquisition operation».
Every company is trying to limit consumption and smart working has also become a tool to achieve this. The expectation is that in the medium term the situation will recover. «The hope – concludes Lantelme – is to be able to overcome the moment of tension. We believe that it is a theme, that of expensive bills and expensive energy, with a horizon of a year, a year and a half, after which the situation should be much more stable».