The Garbarino appliance chain faces a serious financial crisis, with protests from its employees who have not received their salaries for two months, a dozen closed stores throughout the country and accumulates debts for more than $ 4.6 billion. The problems have been accumulating for a year and this week is key for the future of the company and its 3,800 workers.
In addition to the sale of household appliances, the company includes the travel division; Compumundo; the Digital Fueguina and Tecnosur factories in Tierra del Fuego, and the financial Fiden. Since June 2020, it is owned by Carlos Rosales, an entrepreneur who also owns a porteñas radio pool, is president of an insurance company and club San Lorenzo proto-treasurer.
The problems that Garbarino was already dragging in recent years, deepened and in May their sales collapsed 75% year-on-year. A month earlier, the drop had been 60%, which impacted on the payment chain.
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For now, their 3800 workers denounce that they are owed two months of salaries, while the signature appears in the Central Bank of Debtors of the Central Bank (BCRA), with 3,251 bounced checks, for more than $ 4.6 billion.
Among the main creditors of the company that has been in the market for 70 years, there are the Frincredit Cooperative, with a liability of $ 186 million; followed by Finares, with $ 148 million; the National Bank, with $ 83 million; el HSBC, with $ 54 million; y American Express, with $ 13 million, among others.
Even faces bankruptcy orders before Justice. The prestamista Credibel recently requested it before the commercial court 14. The demand is against Garbarino and against Rosales himself, for $ 50 million in each case.
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Before Rosales entered, the chain that it became the largest in the country, was in the hands of the founding brothers, Daniel and Omar Garbarino, which were disposed of 100% of their shares. At that time, I was dragging a debt of around $ 12,000 million, among the $ 5,000 million of liabilities incurred with creditor banks (Galicia and Santander, among the main ones) and the $ 7 billion in debt to commercial suppliers (National and international manufacturers of electrical appliances and electronics such as Newsan and Mirgor).
In June of last year, new owners announced a $ 2 billion investment to clean up the firm, but a year later the problems redoubled. In this framework, the group led by Rosales has been in negotiations since May with the Tucuman businessman Facundo Prado, owner of the cable and internet firm Supercanal and the Centrocard credit card, who made an offer to keep all of Garbarino, after signing a preliminary exclusivity agreement. But in recent hours, the change of hands appears to have cooled off and doubts are growing about how the company will continue, according to the newspaper. The chronicler.
From the retail chain they ensure that go ahead the process to find a buyer, while the crisis deepens, with the closure of a dozen branches in Greater Buenos Aires and in the Santa Fe city of Rosario and the claim by your workers for non-payment of wages. To make the situation more visible, on Friday there were marches to different venues and a camp in front of the La Tablada distribution center, in the La Matanza district to claim their salaries and a rescue plan for the firm.
