Court rejects accord, Borsalino bankrupt

(ANSA) - Alessandria, December 18 - Luxury Italian hat maker Borsalino, which celebrated its 160th anniversary earlier this year, has gone bankrupt after a court on Monday rejected a request for an agreement with creditors, trade union representatives said.
    The company, which employs 135 workers, has not released an official statement yet.
    The court in Alessandria, where Borsalino is based, rejected a bankruptcy agreement request filed by Haeres Equita srl, the company owned by Swiss entrepreneur Philippe Camperio.
    Union representatives, who met with the company's workers in the afternoon, have requested to meet with administrators Stefano Ambrosini and Paola Barisone.
    "We have already asked for a meeting with the administrators", said Elio Bricola, a representative of the UIL trade union.
    Maria Iennaco, the representative of another trade union, CGIL, said workers at the Borsalino factory in the town of Spinetta Marengo near Alessandria were "tense and nervous".
    "This is an absurd situation - there is work, there are orders that have been placed and therefore we can only be angry after the court's decision", Iennaco said, adding that workers are scheduled to meet with Camperio in the coming days.
    Last year, Camperio became the new majority stakeholder of the once family-owned Borsalino through Haeres Equita, a private equity investment company.
    The transaction was estimated at about 20 million euros, corresponding to Borsalino's debts. The hat maker was able to keep its production in Alessandria as a result and the company's activity continued with a forecast revenue this year of 17 million euros.
    The court on Monday rejected a bankruptcy agreement for a second time after ruling against a previous request last December, which paved the way to a new industrial plan presented this spring.
    Borsalino, whose hats have been donned by celebrities and Hollywood stars including Humphrey Bogart in 'Casablanca' and Alain Delon and Jean Paul Belmondo in 'Borsalino', was founded by the eponymous family in 1857.
    Despite a strong brand, the company lost millions of euros over the past few years, returning to profit only at the beginning of 2015, amid Italy's deep financial crisis and a scandal involving former majority owner Marco Marenco.
    Marenco was stripped of his powers in 2008 and arrested in 2015 over alleged bankruptcy and fraud.