Las cartas de patrocinio

Abstract

Las cartas de patrocinio son un instrumento jurídico con muy poca tradición en la jurisprudencia española que se ha hecho bastante popular recientemente en el ámbito financiero de los grupos de sociedades debido tanto a la facilidad o simpleza con la que se emiten, como a las ventajas fiscales que ostentan frente a otras garantías clásicas (fianza, aval…). El Tribunal Supremo se ha visto obligado desde 1985, a pronunciarse sobre sus efectos e interpretación de un instrumento que no estaba regulado ni siquiera en el Código Civil. No sin problemas en su interpretación, se ha diferenciado entre cartas débiles y fuertes, pasando en estas últimas de ser equiparadas a una fianza a considerarse que generan una obligación contractual para la emisora de la carta.

Comfort letters are a legal instrument with not much tradition in Spanish Law which have recently become very popular in financial aspects of business holdings. Their rising popularity has been possible due to the facility and simplicity being issued and also because of the fiscal benefits they have against other security interests (bond, endorsement…). The High Court has been forced since 1985 to make statement about the Comfort Letters effects and their interpretation because they were not even regulated in the Spanish Civil Code. Counting also with some interpretation troubles, it has been also possible to discern between weak and strong comfort letters. The last ones, were compared to a bond and now they are considered a contractual obligation for their issuer.