Gloves, Pens and Periscope: Deal Signing in the Coronavirus Era

(Bloomberg) --

Social distancing is adding a new layer of complexity to the mechanics of deal signing.

With the Spanish government applying some of the strictest lockdown measures in Europe as the death toll from the coronavirus rises, one company had to resort to extraordinary methods to push through a refinancing deal to avoid insolvency.

TPF Getinsa Euroestudios, the Spanish subsidiary of the Belgian engineering firm TPF, managed to get the 30 million euros ($32 million) it needed to keep going. The banks and the borrower had to sign the deal one at a time in the public notary’s office, wearing their own gloves and using their own pens while broadcasting the signing on the Periscope app.

“It was a bit slow and weird, you could see they were scared,” said Amado Gimenez, partner at Ramon y Cajal Abogados, the legal adviser to the lenders, who followed the process online.

Banco Santander, Bankia, Banco Sabadell, BBVA and Ibercaja signed the deal with the company in Madrid on Thursday.

At the moment Spanish notaries are only allowed to attend to urgent cases and following specific guidelines that ensure physical distance and health security.

But Spanish law also requires all parties to be present for the signature. To work around this, both the company and lenders were given a time slot to go and sign in turns.

“Advisers couldn’t be in the room, only the company and the lenders’ representatives or proxies were allowed, so we decided to put a cell phone to live stream the signature via Periscope,” explained Juan Verdugo, partner at Garrigues, the legal adviser of TPF Getinsa, in a phone interview.

When all parties involved had signed all the documents needed, the notary sent them an email letting them and their advisers know the deal had been successfully completed.

The banks that signed on Thursday account for more than 60% of the 30 million euros of the refinancing in four tranches. Others including Caixabank and Bankinter will join by April 2. KPMG was the financial adviser of the company.

TPF Getinsa and the notary public involved didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Story Link: Gloves, Pens and Periscope: Deal Signing in the Coronavirus Era

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