Osnabrück, 27.03.2023
The manufacturing sector in Germany is currently being hit hard. The reasons are massive increases in material prices and energy costs due to the indirect consequences of the Corona pandemic, disrupted supply chains and the Ukraine war. As a consequence of the economic crisis and insolvency of an important customer, Berner GmbH, based in Osnabrück, decided to continue its restructuring course within the framework of a petition filed on 23.03.2023 with the competent Osnabrück Local Court for the initiation of insolvency proceedings in self -administration. Berner GmbH is active in the field of shop fitting, especially for bakeries, and is currently facing considerable cost increases. In addition There is also a massive reluctance to buy on the part of its core clientele, who have also been severely affected by the general economic conditions. The self-administration process is intended to give the company the opportunity to bring the restructuring measures already initiated to a successful conclusion in order to reposition itself under the changed market conditions.
The management of Berner GmbH has been complemented by the restructuring experts Prof. Dr. Gerrit Hölzle and Dr. Karl-Friedrich Curtze. Both GÖRG partners have many years of experience in advising on large-scale self-administration proceedings. The GÖRG team will now develop a restructuring plan together with the operational management of Berner. Berner's performance towards its customers is not to be affected by the decision to complete the restructuring under court supervision. Experienced teams from reconomis (Bodo Mall, Nils Andersson-Lindström and Philipp Kläner) and WAYES (led by Konrad Martin) are supporting the commercial and legal restructuring
process.
The application to initiate self-administration proceedings is generally only granted by the competent local court if there is a prospect of restructuring the company. In accordance with this requirement, the Osnabrück District Court has appointed lawyer Dr. Malte Köster from the law firm of WILLMERKÖSTER as provisional trustee. He will now cooperate constructively with the self-administration and work out solutions together with them in order to enable another well-known commercial enterprise in Germany to find a way out of the unavoidable consequences of the current economic crisis. Pre-financing for insolvency payments has been initiated for the company's approximately 120 employees so that wages and salaries are secured until the end of May.
