Interjet’s Aleman Is Ordered to Pay $32 Million to Televisa
Interjet’s Aleman Is Ordered to Pay $32 Million to Televisa
(Bloomberg) -- A court ordered businessman Miguel Aleman Magnani to pay 624 million pesos (about $32 million) to broadcaster Grupo Televisa SAB in a dispute over a radio-station deal, ratcheting up the financial pressure on a tycoon who also controls debt-laden Interjet airline.
Televisa had agreed in July to sell its 50% stake in radio operator Sistema Radiopolis to Corporativo Coral, a company controlled by Aleman Magnani, who also is named in the court ruling. The deal was for 1.25 billion pesos but the buyers failed to make an initial payment for about $32 million, Televisa said in October.
“We are exercising all our legal options in the face of serious breaches of contract,” Televisa said in a statement applauding the decision.
Coral and Aleman Magnani have five business days to make the payment plus interest and legal costs incurred by Televisa, according to the Feb. 27 order by a judge in Mexico City.
“Televisa is trying to obtain double payment for the purchase of Radiopolis,” an Aleman family representative said in a statement, referring to a related case. “We’re developing the necessary procedural resources, given this is just a lower court.”
Aleman Magnani, who held executive posts in Televisa decades ago, also owns ABC Aerolineas SA, known as Interjet, which is saddled with debt. The closely held carrier said in a court filing last year that its accumulated losses could be interpreted as a “technical bankruptcy.”
The phrase typically is used in Mexico to describe a situation in which liabilities outweigh assets. Interjet hasn’t filed for protection from creditors. The airline later tweeted that it wasn’t in technical bankruptcy and said the situation didn’t affect its operations.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Navarro in Mexico City at anavarro30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Tony Robinson
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