Today’s Tuesday is a first important date in the insolvency proceedings of Kika/Leiner. Creditors can only submit their claims to the St. Pölten Regional Court on this date. However, there are also grace periods and the very important deadline is then August 21 with the report and examination meeting.
According to reports, very large creditor “chunks” had not yet been brought in by Monday. For example, wage claims have already been registered, but not, for example, termination claims. This is about the claims of the approximately 1,500 people who lost their jobs after investor René Benko’s Signa Holding sold the two furniture stores at a profit and the new owners announced bankruptcy soon afterwards.
Liabilities had been provisionally estimated at EUR 132 million. It contained 40 million euros in supplier claims, which, however, were to be partially covered by insurance, and 42 million euros in public taxes and contributions – so the taxpayer also pays on top of that. In addition, there are employee claims, including termination claims from the employment relationships to be terminated.
1500 terminations and 23 closed branches
23 of 40 Kika/Leiner branches were closed at the end of July. 1500 people were given notice of termination, 200 left the company without giving notice. Before the bankruptcy, the furniture chain had around 3,900 employees. Since June 13, Kika/Leiner has been in a restructuring process without self-administration. The insolvency administrator is the St. Pölten lawyer Volker Leitner.
Two weeks after the sale of the operative Kika/Leiner business by the Signa group around Benko to the trade manager Hermann Wieser, the company filed for bankruptcy. The furniture store properties were bought by the Graz Supernova Group.
Bankruptcy raises a number of questions
Because some questions about Kika/Leiner’s business activities under Signa ownership arose after the insolvency, the Viennese lawyer and insolvency expert Stephan Riel was appointed “special administrator”. He should take care of examining the causes of the financial collapse and examining and enforcing claims from the violation of creditor protection regulations. Riel intends to submit his report to the insolvency court and the creditors’ committee in good time before the restructuring plan meeting on September 25th.
In addition, there is a risk of many millions of euros in tax money being lost because Kika/Leiner was granted tax deferrals during the Corona period. The head of the Finanzprokuratur, Wolfgang Peschorn, wants to see the taxpayer’s claims satisfied as best as possible.
2023-08-08 05:08:40
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