Rumasa on the brink again

"Rumasa bubble exlodes," headlines ABC, following the announcement that the ten companies of the Nueva Rumasa group, managed by flamboyant businessman José María Ruiz Mateos and his six sons, will suspend payment of their debts. The group, which owes an estimated 700 million euros, will be forced to declare bankruptcy if it does not reach a deal with its creditors within the next four months. ABC notes that close to 5,000 small investors have put their savings into "the high-yield bonds offered by the group, which paid up to 12 per cent interest." If I cannot pay, I’ll put a bullet in my head," Ruiz Mateos told reporters. In 1983, his previous group, at the time one of the largest in the country, was nationalised in the wake of an embezzlement scandal. Ruiz Mateos later succeeded in recovering some of the companies in court proceedings.