The insolvent men’s fashion group Ahlers is sold to the textile retail chain Röther. 300 jobs are to be eliminated – most of them in Germany. Ahlers owns brands such as Pierre Cardin, Baldessarini and Pioneer Jeans.
The fashion retailer Röther takes over large parts of the insolvent fashion manufacturer Ahlers. Ahlers AG announced that the contracts would be signed shortly. Accordingly, the Röther Group will acquire the tangible and intangible assets necessary for the continuation of the business operations of the Ahlers Group with the brands Pierre Cardin, Baldessarini, Pioneer Jeans and Pioneer Workwear.
The foreign subsidiaries in Poland, Switzerland, France, Austria, Hungary and Spain and production in Sri Lanka also go to Röther. The shareholders, above all the family of CEO Stella Ahlers, go away empty-handed. “The sale proceeds are due to the creditors,” the statement said.
The company and the insolvency administrator did not comment on the sale price. The execution of the sales contracts is still pending agreements with the licensors for brands such as Pierre Cardin.
Of the last 1,600 jobs, 300 are to be lost, most of them in Germany. At the insolvent Ahlers companies in Germany, 170 of the last 400 jobs were retained.
Insolvency “inevitable”
The listed Ahlers AG and seven subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in April due to impending insolvency. Ahlers had a total of 1,700 employees at the time. Stella Ahlers was confident “that the history of the 104-year-old Ahlers AG will be successfully continued by a family entrepreneur”.
The consequences of the corona pandemic and the associated disrupted supply chains, the general reluctance to buy, high inflation and bankruptcies in retail made the step inevitable, it was said at the time.
The Röther Group, founded in 1972, has 2,300 employees and operates 48 fashion stores in Germany and Austria under the name Modepark Röther, in which Ahlers brands have already been sold. The managing partner, Michael Röther, rated the takeover as a strategic step towards expanding the wholesale business.