Business operations continue
Osnabrueck, April 12, 2023. The management of the HR Group has filed an application for the opening of insolvency proceedings for nine German companies at the district court in Osnabrück. The district court of Osnabrück followed the application and hired the experienced restructuring specialist lawyer Dr. Christian Gerloff (Kanzlei Gerloff Liebler Rechtsanwälte, Munich) appointed provisional insolvency administrator.
The HR Group is one of the leading European trading groups in the shoe market; it consists of the wholesale (system business) and logistics divisions. As part of the restructuring and realignment of the group that has taken place to date, the RENO retail division was sold to an investor on October 1, 2022. The insolvency application now became necessary after the well-advanced and promising search for an investor for the remaining systems business and logistics divisions had surprisingly come to a standstill.
The trigger for this was RENO’s application for insolvency on March 28, 2023, since the HR Group as service provider continues to provide extensive services for RENO in the areas of IT and logistics. In addition, the HR Group, like many other competitors, is burdened by the consequences of the corona pandemic that have not yet been overcome, the energy crisis and price increases, as well as backlogged receivables. The continuing reluctance of consumers to buy and the correspondingly lower demand from retail customers had a direct negative impact on sales and liquidity.
The provisional insolvency administrator and his team are currently getting an overview of the group of companies. Business operations in all companies of the HR Group continues without restrictions despite the provisional insolvency. All existing and new orders in the two divisions system business and logistics are processed with the usual high quality. The wages and salaries of the approximately 750 employees are secured for the next three months – until the end of June 2023 – by the insolvency money from the Federal Employment Agency. Not directly affected by The group’s foreign companies in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary are filing for insolvency.
„Almost the entire shoe trade is currently in crisis. Nevertheless, the system business and logistics are tried and tested business models in which the HR Group has expertise that is recognized and valued in the market.”he says provisional insolvency administrator Dr. Christian Gerloff. „Our priority now is to stabilize ongoing business operations and explore all options that will enable a viable future solution for the company and its employees. This is also in the interest of satisfying creditors as best as possible.”
About HR Group
The HR Group can look back on more than 130 years of experience in the shoe trade. After the group of companies had sold the RENO division with the entire branch business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on October 1, 2022, it operates the two remaining divisions system business (wholesale) and the logistics location in the Rhineland as a service providerPalatinate Thaleischweiler frogs
