In the USA, Accuride Corporation and “certain of its U.S. and Canadian affiliates” has filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition and commenced proceedings in Canada under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. Restructuring is expected to be completed in 90-100 days. “All plants continue to operate”, according to the wheelmaker. Accuride’s Mexican, European, and Asian subsidiaries are not included in the filings.
American Tire Distributors, Inc. (ATD) has filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in parallel with entering a restructuring support agreement (RSA) with lenders representing approximately 90 per cent its outstanding obligations. At the same time, the firm reported that it is “contemplat[ing] transitioning ownership of the company through a competitive sale process”.
Even for the best forward-planners, 2020 was a year of surprises. And while the word “unprecedented” has been worn out during the last 12 months, it is difficult to find another more appropriate term. With everything from business closures, to a global pandemic (and with the pandemic resulting in lockdowns, factory closures and spikes in online and mobile tyre business), there certainly has been a lot going on. That’s why in January we crunched the numbers relating to our website traffic in order to find our what exactly were the top 10 stories of 2020.
Recycled carbon black compnay Pyrolyx AG has cancelled the extraordinary general meeting it had scheduled for 15 January 2021, and has done so as the company has filed to open insolvency proceedings. The case (number 1507 IN 2125/20) was filed with the Munich District Court on 4 December 2020.
Pyrolyx USA Indiana has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy with the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The 66,000sqft Terre Haute plant had not resumed operations since they were suspended in March, in part leading to its withdrawal from the Australian and German Stock Exchanges in September 2020. The factory cited the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason for its suspension. Upon completion, the company claimed the plant was the largest of its kind in the world.
BBS’s provisional administrator, Thomas Oberle, as provisional insolvency administrator, has clarified that there are not “structural problems” at the firms two plants in Schiltach and Herbolzheim. And therefore, that was not the reason for the well-known wheel brand’s recent insolvency our German group publication Reifenpresse.de reported.
Wheel manufacturer BBS applied for bankruptcy protection at the district court in Rottweil, Germany on Monday 13 July 2020. It is the third time in the past 15 years BBS has done so. There were also bankruptcies in 2007 and 2011, our German group publication Neue ReifenZeitung (reifenpresse.de) reported.
Following the news that Nussbaum had got into financial difficulties due to the costs of restructuring process that had been going on since 2014, high repayment charges, a slump in demand and the effects of the COVID19 pandemic, its future has now apparently been secured. Our German sister publication Neue Reifenzeitung’s online portal reifepresse.de reports that after the bankruptcy of parent company Otto Nußbaum GmbH & Co. KG, the insolvency administrator Dr. Dirk Pehl of Schultze & Braun sold the business to the newly-founded Nussbaum Custom Lifts GmbH effective 1 July 2020, which is also connected to the Nussbaum family. As a result, around 220 employees will be transferred to the new company and the firm’s production sites in Kehl are to be retained.
A week ago, Bridgestone announced its acquisition of 42 Reiff Reifen und Autotechnik retail outlets in Germany from the now-bankrupt Fintyre Group business. The insolvency administrator handling the Fintyre case reports that buyers have also been found for two further Fintyre businesses, Duro Reifenservice GmbH and Reifen24 GmbH.
Some ten weeks ago, German tyre wholesaler RS Exclusiv Reifengroßhandel GmbH entered insolvency as part of the Fintyre Group’s operations in Germany. It now seems that the company’s days are numbered. The insolvency administrator’s office confirmed the sale of RS Exclusiv’s headquarters site north of Hamburg to our German partner magazine, Neue Reifenzeitung. The wholesaler has quarter of a year to pack its things and go. But the insolvency administrator also reports another, more cogent reason for winding up the business.
Insolvency proceedings begin for 7 Fintyre Group companies in Germany
According to Sebastian Brunner, spokesman for the provisional insolvency administrator handling the Fintyre Group case, a number of parties have already expressed interest in acquiring individual companies belonging to Fintyre’s insolvent German operations. These potential investors have already inspected the companies in question or will do so in the near future. “We hope to already have binding offers on the table in April and then be able to enter into negotiations,” said Brunner.
The insolvency administrator handling the case of 16 Fintyre Group companies in Germany reports further progress. Miguel Grosser from law and insolvency administration firm JAFFÉ states that 31 TyreXpert, Secura and Duro retail outlets are selling tyres again and providing a full range of customer services. Other centres, including those belonging to Reiff Reifen und Autotechnik, can operate on a “restricted” basis but not sell new products.
Hundreds of people employed by Fintyre Group subsidiaries in Germany didn’t receive their wages or salaries for January, and it looks like this unhappy situation occurred again a month later. Disgruntled employees have contacted our German affiliate to confirm the lightness of their bank accounts, but apparently, they’ll soon become weightier.
All 16 companies in the German Fintyre Group have now applied to open insolvency proceedings. But what lies ahead for the 1300-plus employees awaiting wages and salaries, the affected companies’ creditors, and the companies themselves? Sebastian Brunner, spokesman for Miguel Grosser, the provisional insolvency administrator at law firm Jaffé, told our sister website in Germany, Reifenpresse.de, that approximately 200 Reifen Krieg employees will receive their outstanding January wages and salaries in the coming days. Business at the group’s wholesalers and retailers is largely at a standstill, though the office of the provisional insolvency administrator has some more positive news on this too.
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