Companies on alert; This is a shocking X-ray of business in Colombia

With the 182,000 million pesos that Colchones Paraíso reported as operating income in 2021, there were still no clear signs that it could reach liquidation, but it happened. In 2019, it produced 500 mattresses a day with 1,600 workers, of whom only 700 remain and no one has received a salary since October 2023. Now, they are starting to line up to claim their late payments, amid the judicial process that has been initiated to close the story of a company that was successful and went bankrupt.

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Founded in 2010 as Dream Rest Colombia, the Paraiso mattress distributor had 170 warehouses in the country and factories in several cities, mainly in the departments of Bucaramanga, Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla and Cundinamarca.

In January 2024, when problems were already large, labor protests emerged: a group of workers sat down with Labor Ministry officials and employer representatives to negotiate an agreement on debts related to the social security of active and former workers. Of the company.

This is one of those social dramas that begins with the liquidation of a company. Statistics from the Superintendent of Companies show that, at the end of 2023, business insolvency procedures – which include agreements in restructuring, execution and liquidation – totaled 4,473, a figure not only higher than in the previous three years, but also higher than . In 2019, when the pandemic was not declared.

According to the Insolvency Atlas revealed by the entity, last year 71.1 per cent of the cases were restructured and the remaining cases were liquidated. Company superintendent Billy Escobar Pérez argued, “This means that it is the majority of companies that take advantage of these procedures to save themselves, make agreements with creditors and even reorganize those that are in liquidation.” Can be returned.”

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