Abengoa piled up €20B in project-finance debt — Spain's green-energy giant collapsed

Abengoa was founded in Seville in 1941 and grew into a Spanish multinational building renewable energy, water and infrastructure projects in over 80 countries. By 2014 it employed about 20,000 people and reported €1.5 billion in annual sales. Growth was funded by project finance: each plant and desalination facility carried its own debt, nominally non-recourse to the parent. In practice, the parent guaranteed much of it.

By 2014, total debt had reached roughly €20 billion — most of it buried in project-finance vehicles that kept the parent's headline leverage looking manageable. On 25 November 2015, the industrial group Gonvarri pulled out of a €350 million rescue, and Abengoa entered pre-insolvency proceedings. In 2016 it posted a record €7.6 billion net loss. Two restructurings followed, in 2017 and 2019, but neither restored viability.

In February 2021, the parent company filed for bankruptcy. The regional government of Andalusia refused €20 million in aid; the state fund SEPI denied a support package in June 2022. By November 2022, the main subsidiaries were also in bankruptcy. A judge dissolved the parent on 1 July 2022. The assets were eventually sold to COX Energy Group, preserving over 11,000 jobs. It was the second-largest corporate collapse in Spanish history.