A quarter century after Sabena's collapse, receiver Van Buggenhout hopes to close the books next year
By running parts of the business for longer than usual, the receiver raised over a billion euros, although suppliers are still owed 350 million euros.
Exactly 25 years after the largest bankruptcy in Belgian history, the winding-up of Sabena has still not been completed, VRT NWS reports. Receiver Christian Van Buggenhout, who has led the case since November 2001, now expects to wrap it up next year. A few years ago the receivers were still aiming for 2024, Trends-Tendances wrote at the time.
Van Buggenhout did not sell everything immediately but kept parts of the business running to raise their value. Airport baggage handling was valued at 3 million euros at the time of the bankruptcy and eventually fetched 55 million, aircraft engines were leased out and a hotel in Congo was operated for almost 25 years. A quick liquidation would have yielded about 190 million euros, according to the receiver, whereas the estate now holds around 1.05 billion. Through hundreds of court cases he cut the claims from over 3 billion to just over 1 billion euros.
Severance pay for staff, totalling 500 million euros, has been paid in full, VRT NWS reports. Of the 600 million euros owed to suppliers, 250 million has been repaid. A few cases remain: a plot of land in Congo awaits a ruling from the Court of Cassation, and a procedure in Switzerland may still bring in some money. The receivers earlier lost a case against Swissair's former parent SAirGroup, according to Trends-Tendances.