TAPE RUVICHA S.A.E.C.A.

What it is

Tape Ruvicha, founded in 1973, has as its main activity the representation of the Ford and New Holland brands for new and used vehicles and machinery. Through its subsidiary ACE S.A.C.

Automotores it also sells Jaguar and Land Rover, and holds the brands Wega (air filters) and Beckman Coulter (clinical analysis equipment).

Tape Ruvicha owns 96.97% of Tape Logística S.A. (formerly the Chery car importer) and 99.6% of ACE S.A.C., the Paraguay franchisee for Jaguar and Land Rover. It operates from five branches — four owned, one leased — plus four distributors to whom it sells units and parts.

Who owns it

Tape Ruvicha belongs to the Pappalardo family group, a Paraguayan economic group with a diversified portfolio spanning the automotive, mass-consumption, chemicals, and agricultural sectors. Although the group is not formally constituted as a holding company and each firm operates independently, there is a strong reputational and economic bond between Tape Ruvicha and its shareholders, the Pappalardo family.

Not published: the exact percentage ownership held by each Pappalardo family member has not been disclosed in the freely accessible BVASA filings, the Feller Rate or FIX SCR reports, or on the company’s own investor-relations pages. Paraguayan CNV regulations (Ley N° 1284/98, Art.

50) require annual disclosure of shareholders holding more than 5% to the regulator, but that filing is not publicly downloadable from the BVASA or CNV portal in the sources reviewed.

Who runs it

Pablo Pappalardo holds the title of President — the company’s own website confirms this in its current-dated governance page (Rev. 08 de Marzo de 2024).

The company is chaired by Pablo Xavier Pappalardo Bedoya, the second generation of the founding family.

Not published: the name of a separate CEO or CFO is not disclosed in any of the primary sources reviewed (BVASA listing page, Feller Rate reports, FIX SCR filings, or the company’s own governance page). Paraguay’s CNV does not mandate public disclosure of individual officer salaries or titles beyond board composition.

The money, in plain words

In the nine months to September 2025, revenue stood at Gs. 489,224m (~US$80.7m), down 3.2% on the same period of 2024.

The drop was driven mainly by a 23.4% fall in New Holland unit sales — a direct consequence of a weaker agricultural cycle squeezing farmer budgets.

The operating surplus margin (EBITDA margin) came to 9.7% in the nine months to September 2025, below the 12.1% recorded in the same period of 2024 — meaning the company kept roughly 10 cents of each guaraní before interest and taxes, against 12 cents a year earlier. The equity base has been rising steadily, reaching Gs.

273,493m (~US$45.1m) at end-2024, built up through retained profits across several years.

Net adjusted financial debt relative to operating surplus reached 5.6 times at Q3-2025 (4.8 times at September 2024), while operating surplus covered interest charges just 1.0 times (1.6 times at September 2024). That is a thin safety margin: every guaraní the business earns before interest is just enough to pay the interest bill, with nothing left over.

Sales and margins are volatile because of dependence on the agricultural cycle and the broader Paraguayan economic cycle.

What it is doing now

On 16 April 2026, Tape Ruvicha launched the placement of Series 1 and 2 bonds under its Global Bond Issuance Programme G5, rated BBBpy / Stable. The entire proceeds are earmarked for restructuring short-term financial liabilities — in other words, swapping expensive short-dated debt for longer-term bonds to ease near-term pressure on cash.

Financial debt fell to Gs. 411,779m (~US$67.9m) by September 2025, down 6.7% year-on-year, partly because the Chery vehicle representation was dropped, freeing up working capital.

The company is actively reducing its debt load even as agricultural headwinds compress margins.

What to watch

• New Holland contract renewal. The company has held the New Holland representation for more than 40 years; the contract runs until June 2026 and is renegotiated three months before expiry. A change in terms — or loss of the contract — would remove roughly a quarter of total revenue at a stroke.
• Interest cover. The ratio of operating surplus to interest charges stood at just 1.0 times at Q3-2025 — any further revenue or margin pressure could push it below 1.0x, meaning the business would not generate enough to cover its interest bill.
• Agricultural cycle. Paraguay’s soy and cattle economy drives farmer demand for New Holland equipment; a good harvest season directly lifts Tape Ruvicha’s single largest revenue line.
• Transparency gap. The company does not publish a freely downloadable annual report or audited accounts on the BVASA portal or its own site; investors in the bonds must rely on rating-agency summaries. Regulators could push for fuller disclosure as the bond programme grows.

This is news, not investment advice.