What was worth nearly $316 million in 2008, according to Christie’s, and over $509 million in 2009, according to Gary Nader, is now worth nearly $1.5 billion.
The new assessment of the seized Berardo collection, also handed over yesterday by Gary Nader to the Judicial Court of the District of Lisbon, on which the seizure of the collection depends, supports the request of the lawyers of Joe Berardo who the “damage” claim from Novo Banco, CGD and BCP claiming it is “based on an alleged devaluation of the property”.
“It is an abuse and in bad faith to claim that the guarantee for the collection of the full credit was insufficient, since such an inadequacy in fact already existed when the property was established and could never justify the right to any compensation,” which, as yet, has not been quantified by banks, they argue.
The lawyers explain that “at the date of the pledge agreement, December 31, 2008, a valuation of Volume I of the Berardo Collection has been carried out by Christie’s for an amount of EUR 316 million. This was the relevant value for setting up the Deposit , since at the time the Banks did not even consider valuing volumes II and III of the collection, this is the value to be taken into account when assessing any impairment of the legally relevant guarantee according to the rules of the Civil Code “.
And, they claim, “since there was no apparent devaluation of the guarantee, but because the valuation was effectively verified, this action is [dos bancos] Can not go on”.
In total, the collection that “remains wholly in the possession of the Associação Coleção Berardo” is valued by Gary Nader at EUR 1.8 billion if “acquired in its entirety” or 1.5 billion if it is “purchased piece by piece”. sold. .
In other words: there is money, there is no “depreciation of the property”, there is no reason for the arrest of the works.
The conclusion of Joe Berardo’s lawyers is that “at the only level at which the claim of the plaintiffs’ banks can legitimately be placed, that of the collection of their alleged claims, the situation of the plaintiffs’ banks has actually improved”.
In addition, they add that “it can be said” that Novo Banco, CGD and BCP “or the purchasers of the pledged securities, who may be the Author Banks themselves, will never cease to have access to the works, as under the the Articles of Association of the Associação Coleção Berardo, purchasers of the securities in progress are entitled to their amortization, receiving their corresponding cash value or, subject to the limit, assets of the Associação Coleção Berardo with a value determined by an independent taxation” .
In other words, “It is clear that Joe Berardo has more than enough assets to provide hypothetical debt to the banks claiming it,” said a source linked to the lawsuit.
The businessman is claiming more than 900 million in damages from the banks because he did not give him information about the real risk “of the institutions” when he bought shares on credit; the banks in an executive action, delivered to the court, want to collect “debts” from Joe Berardo in the amount of 962 million euros.
Without arguments of “insufficient guarantee to collect the full credit” and thus no grounds for any “compensation”, and given the assessment that the Berardo collection is “worth practically three times today” as it was in 2009, if the execution ” falls” the Associação Coleção Berardo remains at the disposal of the collection and in theory “probably”, not least because the State has canceled the existing agreement on the art collection, which expires on December 31 of this year, and the works from the Museu Coleção Berardo may be from the CCB.
The denunciation by the state of the protocol signed with José Berardo, which will take effect on January 1, 2023, if another agreement on transfer and disclosure is not negotiated between the parties involved in the meantime, opens the door to an arrest ( which is “unlikely until the end of the year as the decisions are subject to appeal”) part of the Ministry of Culture’s plan to establish a new contemporary art museum at the CCB, which would contain several collections. bringing them together (in addition to the Berardo collection) and allows the Associação Coleção Berardo to participate in the work of the CCB.
The Ministry of Culture, questioned by the DN, states that “once a decision is made by the courts on the [o fim do arresto], will be available to negotiate with the owner of the collection. Until the moment of this decision there is a framework of legal uncertainty and in that context it is up to the State to be a factor of predictability and security. It’s done and will continue to happen.”
And in that sense, it reiterates that “the state is available to ensure the preservation and public enjoyment of the Berardo collection if the terms of the arrest are enforced”.
The Ministry of Culture understands that “the determination of seizure, by a court decision, is not related to the protocol that was denounced”, which is only “a decision of the Court, in a process in which the State is not a party”.
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