Bankrupt Saargummi unit wins rescue package
ERJ staff report (DS)
Frankfurt, Germany -- Banks and automotive customers have agreed a rescue package for the ailing SaarGummi Group. According to the provisional liquidation administrator, Jean-Olivier Boghos-sian of Schultze & Braun, the conditions have been created for a rapid stabilisation of the situation.
Only SaarGummi Deutschland GmbH is affected by the insolvency.
The bank consortium involved and the automotive customers are to release immediate aid funds with a total at the two-digit million mark. Part of the immediate aid will go to the primary site in Germany, at Wadern-Büschfeld, which employs about one third of the Group's total workforce of over 1,100. The injection of funds will ensure that business operations will continue, for the time being
Boghossian was also mandated, in coordination with the provisional insolvency administrator of SaarGummi-Deutschland GmbH, Udo Gröner (Heimes+Müller), to seek an investor for the whole corporate group. According to Mr. Boghossian, initial contacts have already been made with potential buyers.
One week after SaarGummi Deutschland GmbH filed for bankruptcy on 5 November, the parent company SaarGummi GmbH also followed suit and filed for insolvency at their local court (on 12 November). The management of SaarGummi GmbH decided to take this step to give the corporate group that had run into trouble the best possible option for restructuring. SaarGummi GmbH is a firm that only functions as a holding company without any business operations. The operational units are not affected by filing for bankruptcy.
SaarGummi Group is a worldwide leading manufacturer of sealing systems, above all for automotive applications. The rubber-processing enterprise is as such a development partner and supplier to the automotive industry in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. The enterprise produces in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, India, Brazil, China and the USA. The product range covers mainly the development and manufacture of bodywork sealing and making the pertaining tools. Molded articles are also produced for industrial applications in hydraulics, safety technology and the shoe industry. The group also supplies the construction industry with sealing systems for windows, facades and roofs. In 2009, SaarGummi achieved sales of approximately EUR 300 million with roughly 3,300 employees worldwide.
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Press release from Administrators (rescue package)
Press release from Administrators (Bankruptcy)
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