Serlimar leaves the ‘surseance van betaling’ can begin to make decisions on his own

Aruba’s national company Serlimar after 3 years manages to get out of surseance and can continue on its own development as a company.

It was clear that Serlimar could not pay the astronomical debt of 20 million florins. On 8 May 2020, the Council of Supervision and Management of Serlimar requested the source of payment to avoid declaring bankruptcy. The court approved a temporary stay on May 19, 2020.

In April 2022, a Raad van Toezicht was appointed which, despite the fact that the Good Corporate Governance law is not finalized, all members passed the screening procedure before being appointed. Through efforts over the past year, it has been possible to convince judges to extend the surseance of payment until May 20, 2022. He managed to budget funds to pay creditors. Serlimar’s tariff also had to be adjusted, and tariff collection efforts were reinforced, thus strengthening the company’s financial position.

Other changes included the introduction of software to help with payment and collection and the reorganization of the contractors that were passed from DOW to Serlimarna in 2015, without budget, which caused disastrous financial impact for Serlimar. With the plan “Our Land Our Country”, managed to reallocate the plots for the benefit of Nature and Agriculture, under the DNM (Directie Natuur en Milieu) / FPNA (Fundación Parque Nacional Arikok), BCI (Bureau City Inspector) and Santa Rosa. This was also intended to reduce the cost of Serlimar.

Today, August 28, 2023, Serlimar will leave her paid employment and can begin to make decisions on her own. This means that the company has shown good signs of recovery and is on track to pay off all its debts. Now, Serlimar has the opportunity to reinvent itself and continue to develop as a company.

One of the points of concern of Minister Ursell Arends is the situation of workers who are still waiting for periodic promotions and/or opening conversations. It is important that the working conditions are regulated, so that the motivation of the workers is also maintained. Workers who knew how to sacrifice in the struggle to save the company.

Minister Arends congratulates Serlimar for their extensive recovery work and wishes them much success for the future. More specifically, the minister emphasizes that getting out of intensive care does not mean you can get up and play football right away. But if space is given to Serlimar to start planning to position itself on the market of sustainable waste processing that falls purely within the framework of the Ministry of Natural Resources.