Almost a year after the sale to a Chinese investor, the automotive supplier Allgaier is insolvent. The confirmed spokeswoman for the competent district court in Göppingen. The bankruptcy application was therefore filed on Monday. The Stuttgart lawyer Fritz Zanker was appointed provisional insolvency administrator. Allgaier Werke GmbH is based in Uhingen, Swabia. Several media had previously reported about it.
The exact reasons for the insolvency were not initially known. Insolvency administrator Zanker spoke only very generally of “liquidity difficulties”. According to earlier information, Allgaier had to contend with the consequences of the Ukraine war, rising prices for energy and logistics, and higher personnel costs. In addition, demand in the automotive supply division had fallen.
“We are currently getting a comprehensive overview of the current situation. Business operations continue,” Zanker is quoted as saying in a statement from the rehabilitation and restructuring company Pluta. Allgaier customers will therefore be supplied as usual. In the coming days, Zanker and his team want to hold talks with customers and suppliers and analyze the financial situation and all restructuring options. In addition, they wanted to start an investor process, it said.
crisis for several years
The automotive supplier and specialist in process engineering has been in crisis for several years. The company faced restructuring from 2020 to 2022. This was made more difficult by the corona pandemic and the resulting supply bottlenecks, for example for raw materials, as well as by the war of aggression in Ukraine.
Almost a year ago, the Chinese Westron Group took over the majority of the company. Previously, the family of former employer president Dieter Hundt was the main shareholder. As recently as November, Allgaier had reported that Westron’s entry had restored financial stability.
According to Pluta, the bankruptcy application applies to the group’s holding company. However, insolvency applications are also to be filed shortly for the subsidiaries operating in Germany. This affects, among other things, Allgaier Automotive GmbH and Allgaier Process Technology GmbH. The foreign companies are therefore not in insolvency proceedings.
1600 employees in Germany
The group employs around 1,600 people in Germany. Their wages and salaries are secured for three months by the insolvency money. According to Zanker, around 2,000 people work in the group worldwide.
Allgaier has two divisions: On the one hand, the company manufactures, among other things, body parts and associated tools as well as tank systems for the automotive industry. In the field of process engineering, Allgaier specializes in systems for washing, drying, cooling, screening and sorting bulk goods.
The automotive suppliers are facing immense challenges due to the aftermath of the corona pandemic and the consequences of the Ukraine war. Mainly due to sharply increased costs and delivery problems. They also have to manage the transformation to electromobility. However, unlike the manufacturers, who often raise the prices of their cars, they are not as good at passing on these costs.
