The board of directors of Sunsundegui, a historic Navarrese bus company, located in Alsasua, announced this Tuesday, during the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of Alsasua, that it will present this Wednesday to the court the request for voluntary bankruptcy without liquidation while continuing the search for an industrial investor to continue the activity of the factory, where more than 300 people work.
“This measure responds to the need to restructure the financial situation of the company after a period of two months from the start of the period of negotiations with creditors during which active work was carried out, by the Council of Administration and by himself. “The company’s management team is looking for an industrial investor which, so far, has not resulted in any firm offer,” Sunsundegui said in a statement.
Despite this circumstance, the company indicated that “the Board of Directors and management of the company will continue their efforts to find a strategic partner who will ensure the continuity of the company’s activity while maintaining the greatest number possible management positions.
The company expressed its “sincere gratitude to Sodena, the public investment company of the Government of Navarra, for the support provided during this period to identify and attract potential investment partners who can support the Sunsundegui project.”
The consulting firm KPMG, which carried out a commercial study of the company, pointed out a problem of “oversizing” of the workforce, currently made up of more than 300 employees. At the end of 2023, Sunsundegui had to hire 150 people to fulfill a Volvo order and then had to hire additional staff at the beginning of 2024 “to resolve incidents” in certain positions.
The Navarrese Minister of Industry and Ecological and Digital Transition of Business, Mikel Irujo, recognized that the company is going through an “extremely delicate” financial situation despite several orders from Volvo for the manufacture of 500 vehicles worth 80 million euros, due to lack of production. liquidity.
