Vapiano is broke, but at least for dozens of restaurants in Germany there is now an investor. It is, of all things, a consortium of the former Vapiano board member Bauer.
The restaurant chain Vapiano found a buyer for dozens of restaurants in Germany two months after filing for bankruptcy. “The creditors’ committee today approved the sale of the major part of the business of Vapiano SE and its subsidiaries in Germany,” the company said in the evening.
The buyer is therefore a consortium led by the former Vapiano board member Mario C. Bauer. The purchase price is a total of 15 million euros and the transaction includes 30 restaurants operated by Vapiano in Germany, it said. The remaining parts of the company are still to be “exploited” in the future.
Bauer had been responsible for the expansion of the company for ten years, according to the Allgemeine Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung (AGHZ). Accordingly, he was only appointed to the board in January 2017, until the “amicable separation” was announced in October of the same year. He then founded a ketchup company (“Curtice Brothers”), which he continues to operate.
Bauer has also bid on business in France
At the beginning of April, Vapiano SE submitted an application to the Cologne District Court to open insolvency proceedings due to insolvency. The procedure was opened with effect from June 1, it said in the message. The effects of the Corona crisis were too much for the company, which was already in the red.
The consortium led by former board member Bauer had already secured the French business two weeks ago. An “irrevocable offer” had been made. The purchase price for this business has now been increased by 3 million euros to 25 million euros. “The offer is expected to be accepted in the next few days,” it said. According to AGHZ, there are 29 restaurants in France.
Vapiano had put the business up for sale at the end of April. A sale of the entire Vapiano Group’s global business as well as individual restaurant portfolios and assets was considered. Negotiations with interested investors should therefore take place by the end of May 2020.
In total, Vapiano SE and the operational subsidiaries in Germany, which are also in preliminary insolvency proceedings, employ more than 2500 people. The Vapiano subsidiaries in France and Luxembourg are not in bankruptcy proceedings.
Vapiano was founded in 2002, has been expanding for years, opened restaurants in 33 countries and went public in June 2017. As a result, the company went into crisis. According to critics, the reason why the chain was growing too quickly was one reason.
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