The Naples-based D’Amato di Navigazione shipping company has been declared bankrupt by a local court but the main shareholder has not given up and intends to fight the decision. The D’Amato family confirmed to Splash that they have already filed a complaint against the verdict claiming it has many errors.
The long-standing legal dispute is against Equitalia, a state-owned tax collection agency, which has been asking for some years now a total amount of €14m ($17m) for tax litigations contested by the company.
One year ago Equitalia sought D’Amato di Navigazione’s bankruptcy while the company reacted with a ‘concordato in bianco’ restructuring procedure under the Italian insolvency law but it has not presented a recovery plan so far because it was still negotiating a resolution in agreement with the tax collection agency. Missing the restructuring plan, a court in Naples declared the company bankrupt but the D’Amato family appealed the verdict to the Appellate Court for a review.
D’Amato di Navigazione was founded in the 1990s by the seasoned shipowner Michele D’Amato and has been always active in the dry bulk market with owned and chartered-in ships.
