Romanian online retailer Elefant announced on January 31 that it has submitted an insolvency request to the Bucharest Court.
The company, which has RON17.5mn (€3.5mn) bonds listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange under the ELF26 ticker, said it plans to come up with a reorganisation plan and implement it under existing management.
Elefant is one of the largest online retailers in Romania, with over 2mn customers, a marketplace with over 400 companies and a portfolio of 3mn products. However, it nearly doubled its losses in 2022 to RON27.4mn (€5.4mn) while its turnover contracted by 19% y/y to RON184mn.
Elefant is controlled by former Moldovan prime minister Ion Sturza through Cyprus-registered Millennium Gold Resources Limited.
Last May, Sturza announced an agreement to sell its 58.8% stake in the company to evoMag, an independent online retailer that is also the marketplace’s main customer. Catalyst Romania SCA SICAR was also supposed to sell its 9.6% stake in Elefant. However, the deal was cancelled in November.
Elefant reported its turnover plunged to RON53mn (€11mn) in H1, 2023, compared to RON95mn in the same period of 2022, while losses remained at the same value of RON11mn. ELF26 bonds are trading at 62.7% of their nominal value.