Bankruptcy proceedings have begun for the European headquarters of the Esprit chain of stores. The fashion brand has been unsuccessfully looking for buyers recently. According to German media, up to 1,300 people will lose their jobs.
The bankruptcy petition was filed in a Duesseldorf court in May of this year. It concerned the subsidiary Esprit Europe and six other German companies belonging to the group.
Up to 1,300 people will lose their jobs
The initiation of the bankruptcy proceedings was first reported by the second programme of German public television Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF).
According to ZDF, 1,300 employees who may be affected by layoffs have already been notified. Negotiations are underway with trade unions on social compensation plans and agreement on the terms of termination of contracts. The payment of current salaries is also guaranteed until the layoffs under bankruptcy law come into effect.
Futile search for an investor
In turn, the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on the latest futile attempts to sell the business. “The company announced that no buyer had been found for the entire company. The company’s business operations will therefore be completely or mostly closed down in the coming months,” it reads.
– None of the interested parties so far are prepared to take such a business risk and operate on such a competitive market – said Christian Gerloff, who took on the role of the company’s restructuring manager.
We reported on the clothing company’s troubles in mid-May, when the Hong Kong-listed group filed for bankruptcy in Germany, saying it hoped the move would help its affected subsidiaries get their finances back on track.
The bankruptcy petition, filed before the court in Duesseldorf, concerned the subsidiary Esprit Europe and six other German companies belonging to the group.
We sent questions to representatives regarding the future of Polish workers. However, by the time of publication of this article, we had not received a response.
ZDF, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”
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