Disagreements between Pillarstone and shareholders leave RBD Armatori on the brink

Naples-based RBD Armatori is seeing its rescue hopes slip away as shareholders of the firm, the Rizzo Bottiglieri De Carlini families and main creditor Pillarstone Italy have yet to find the common ground necessary to submit plans to the court of Torre Annunziata for a third chance to save the company under the concordato preventivo procedure of the Italian bankruptcy law.

Even though shareholders recently accepted an offer for Pillarstone to buy all the assets of the company, both ships and real estate, former CEO Giuseppe Mauro Rizzo wants guarantees for the company to remain based in Torre del Greco (Naples) and for the company’s workforce to be preserved.

Sources tell Splash that another issue is that Pillarstone irked shareholders with its suggested new lineup of the company’s board.

With disagreements still existing between the two parties controlling RBD Armatori, the three managers appointed last summer communicated last week to local court judges that there aren’t the requisite conditions to submit a restructuring plan.

The stalemate leaves the court with two options: bankruptcy or extraordinary administration, a government ministry led restructuring procedure aimed at satisfying creditors while safeguarding business and employees’ rights.