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The West Flemish specialist in bridges and steel structures Ferrokonstrukt is going into liquidation. The 1.25 million euros that was raised barely a year ago through crowdlending is in danger of being lost.
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It was one of the most successful campaigns in crowdlending last year, a popular financieringsvorm whereby companies finance themselves directly from private individuals via a platform. Ferrokonstrukt haalde your Bolero Crowdfunding, part of KBC, raised 1.25 million euros in just 15 minutes in August. CEO Daphne Deckers stated that she had not been able to register in time and had fallen by the wayside herself.
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Just this week, the company had to pay crowdlenders their first coupon.
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A year later, Deckers won’t regret not being able to participate in the crowdlending operation. The company recently filed for liquidation and on Friday the 30 employees were collectively fired. All activities have been stopped and a liquidator has been appointed.
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The timing of the demise is remarkable. This week, crowdlenders were supposed to get their first coupon and the repayment of 20 percent of the capital, but the company didn’t give up. Ferrokonstrukt promised a gross coupon of 6 percent last year.
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The essence
- The steel constructor Ferrokonstrukt is going into liquidation and has laid off its staff.
- A year ago, the company raised 1.25 million euros from private individuals through Bolero Crowdfunding.
- The company ran into financial difficulties due to the switch to larger projects that are only paid after completion.
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The fact that the company collapses barely a year later is the result of a wrong strategic choice, says ABVV secretary Yves Allewaert. ‘The company had a good reputation in metal constructions, such as platform roofs, but a few years ago also took the step to large projects such as steel bridges, a different market.’
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The big difference is that the smaller projects are pre-financed, while the larger projects are only paid upon delivery. ‘The company was not financially able to cope with that,’ says Allewaert. The crowdlending information document also indicated that the money would mainly be used to bridge the time between the completion of major works.
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Dismissal
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Things had been rumbling at the company from Meulebeke for some time. Deckers, who had come over from competitor Victor Buyck, left the company around the turn of the year. The fact that she was not discharged indicates a conflict. Founder Herwig Claeys once again took over the helm of the family business as managing director. In May, another manager who had come over from Victor Buyck also left. Figures from the trade information company Graydon show that payment behavior deteriorated very sharply in the third quarter.
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During the crowdlending for Ferrokonstrukt, the first page of the information note contained a warning that the investor runs the risk of losing his investment completely. Still, the company’s rapid demise raises questions among crowdlenders, who have been unable to get information about the file in recent days.
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The investor must do his own homework. He realizes that the risks and returns go hand in hand here.
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‘Bolero Crowdfunding is a platform that only connects interested companies and investors. No advice is given,” said a KBC spokesperson. ‘The investor has to do his own homework. He realizes that the risks and returns go hand in hand here.’
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A survey by De Tijd previously revealed that 112 Belgian companies last year 46 million euros raised from private investor through crowdlending platforms. It became clear last week that a lot can go wrong with some files: investors who received 2.6 million euros via the crowdlending platform BeeBonds. bought bonds of a Ghent hotel project of the Cayman . group take action to get their money back.
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