Espen Mattson and his father maxed out their loans in a desperate attempt to save the family business. On tiny Christmas Eve, it was over.
Esmabygg Anlegg AS has kept things going since 2012. On 22 December 2023, it was over for the company. Photo: Private Published: Published:
Less than 10 minutes ago
Nine people are out of work after the Trøndelag district court on Wednesday opened bankruptcy in the family business Esmabygg Anlegg AS.
– It is very difficult that it should end like this. Especially that it would happen in the middle of Christmas. says managing director and chairman of the board Espen Mattson.
– I think of my colleagues who are now out of work. It was painful and difficult to announce that they would not be paid their December salary in January, he says.
The building and construction industry is among the industries hardest hit by the economic storm with interest rate hikes and strong price growth.
The bankruptcy joins the grim bankruptcy statistics for the construction industry. So far in 2023, 1,128 construction companies have gone bankrupt, according to Bizweb. In the three previous years, the number of bankruptcies in the same industry has been between 795 and 839.
Managing director and chairman of the board Espen Mattson in Esmabygg Anlegg AS Photo: Private
– Left behind with black pepper
The father of three from Trondheim established the company together with his father Anders Mattson in 2012, after running his own business as a carpenter for four years. Father and son each owned half of the shares.
The construction company took on assignments from companies and private individuals, and developed its own housing projects.
Espen Mattson says that the company ended up in a liquidity crisis as a result of missing payments totaling NOK 4.5 million from two customers.
– The downturn began with a difficult private customer. We completed the job, but ended up being left with black money in the form of an unpaid claim of over two million kroner, says Mattson.
– In addition, we received a claim of over two million kroner related to a building we had previously sold, for an error that was beyond our control, he says further.
Didn’t get the house sold
At the same time as the disputes with the two customers dragged on, the money problems escalated further. The company could not sell a semi-detached house they had built in Trondheim.
– We obtained valuations from four estate agents, to ensure that the property was priced correctly, but were still nowhere near being sold at a reasonable price. At the same time, construction loan interest rates continued to rise and rise, says Mattson.
In the end, the equity was completely eaten up. To the Trøndelag District Court, the company has stated that it has debts of NOK 23.5 million and assets of approximately NOK 16 million.
– Bitter
Mattson says that he and his father have gone to great lengths in an attempt to save the family business.
– Both myself and my father have maxed out privately, and taken out what we can in loans to add equity and keep the company alive. In the end it became too heavy, he says.
Mattson says that the company has also courted private investors, without this leading to success. When they got a no from the bank on Thursday 21 December, after a final push, he saw no other way out than to wind down operations.
– I called a board meeting the following day, where we decided to request a tender. We did not want to operate at the creditor’s expense, he says.
Mattson does not hide that it is bitter.
– For a long time, I thought we would ride out the storm, either by bringing in fresh money or finally getting some of the millions we had outstanding. Then we could turn last year’s deficit into a profit. Instead, we were eaten alive by debt, he says.
Lawyer Kai Stephansen has been appointed as trustee after the bankruptcy.
– The company has been struggling with liquidity problems for a long time. My preliminary impression is that the general manager has tried to obtain financing both from banks and from private investors. When this did not succeed, the board decided to request a tender, as they did not want to operate at the creditor’s expense, he says
Stephansen, who for a number of years has dealt with bankruptcy estates on behalf of Trøndelag district court, says that in 2023 there have been noticeably more bankruptcies among players in the building and construction industry than normal.
– It may look like there are bad times in the industry. We have had several major bankruptcies among local contractors and other players in construction, says Stephansen.
Group CEO Eirik Gjelsvik of the contractor giant Backe recently stated to E24 that the frequent interest rate increases “are killing the industry”, and stated that the group has already seen itself forced to lay off 45 employees.
Since then, the policy rate has been jacked up by a further 0.25 percentage points.
2023-12-28 20:41:03
#family #business #bankrupt #Christmas
