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Download as PDFAttorney Mr Thomas Ellrich has been able to announce another highly satisfactory outcome for all involved in the druckpartner Druck- und Medienhaus GmbH insolvency proceedings: a 100% dividend can be paid out to the company’s creditors in the near future as an advance distribution.
“This is a really extraordinary achievement. It is extremely rare to see such a high dividend in company insolvency proceedings. The average is only two to five per cent,” said attorney Mr Thomas Ellrich from law firm VOIGT SALUS. He has been acting as general agent in the proceedings together with his fellow partner, attorney Dr Franz Zilkens, since the outset. “This very substantial dividend has been achieved thanks to the highly satisfactory proceeds from the sale of the company’s property and machinery. In addition, the registered claims were very carefully examined. We were also able to transfer nearly all ongoing contracts to the buyer under the terms of the M&A deal, which meant the estate avoided the considerable costs that would have arisen from terminating these,” continued Mr Ellrich. Dr Franz Zilkens added, “The creditors’ committee has already approved the advance distribution of the 100% dividend and the claims of all suppliers have been paid in full. As a result, the court can be promptly notified of the planned distribution and this can then go ahead immediately once the time limit for lodging an appeal has expired.”
Insolvency monitor Mr Christoph Chrobok, an attorney from PLUTA Rechtsanwalts GmbH, is also extremely pleased. He has been overseeing the proceedings in the interests of the creditors and monitoring the activities of the debtor-in-possession management team. “The completed management buy-out enabled the company to restructure and saved many of its jobs. Now with the successful sale of the property and other assets, the best possible outcome has also been secured for the creditors,” said attorney Mr Christoph Chrobok. The advance distribution means it will be possible to pay out the 100% dividend to the 155 druckpartner creditors even before all of the estate assets have been fully sold.
Restructuring completed back in 2023
druckpartner filed for debtor-in-possession insolvency proceedings with the Local Court of Essen in May 2023. It found itself in a crisis situation for a number of reasons, including the structural transformation of the printing industry as a whole. Material, energy and transport costs had also increased massively. Out-of-court liquidity preservation measures were not sufficient to alleviate the situation, and management therefore filed for insolvency. The insolvency proceedings were opened in August 2023.
As it would not have made financial sense for the company to remain fully operational given the macroeconomic circumstances and the state of the printing industry, management established a new company – druckpartner GmbH – as part of a management buy-out. This kept on most of the employees. The new company began trading in October 2023.
PLUTA expert
Christoph Chrobok
Rechtsanwalt, Fachanwalt für Insolvenz- und Sanierungsrecht
Oliver Westkamp
Rechtsanwalt