Status: 01/19/2022 10:17 a.m
The Chinese owner of MV Werften has filed for bankruptcy and is now hoping for concessions from his creditors in order to preserve the company. Germany must fear millions in loans.
Genting Hong Kong, the owner of MV shipyards, filed for bankruptcy in a court in Bermuda this morning, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced. The group hopes to be able to shake off its debt burden and remain intact as a whole.
At the same time, Genting made proposals for the appointment of an insolvency administrator who would work on restructuring the group and conduct negotiations with creditors. A first hearing is scheduled for January 20th. Genting said it was not “immediately in a position to pay the debt when it comes due”. The group left open the total debt burden.
Trading in the shares is suspended
The decision was taken after negotiations with creditors and shareholders failed to bring salvation. Trading in the group’s shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange was then suspended yesterday. Talks with the lenders are now to be resumed.
The bankruptcy may also have consequences for German taxpayers, because the federal government and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have supported the shipyards with a three-digit million loan to enable the construction of two cruise ships.
It was initially unclear what consequences Genting’s application for settlement could have for MV Werften and the hoped-for completion of the world’s largest cruise ship “Global Dream”.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania does not want to pay the aid loan
The state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has been refusing for a month to pay out an aid loan of 78 million euros to Genting that was agreed in the summer. At the beginning of the week the district court in Schwerin rejected an urgent application by Genting against the state. The group was unable to explain an existential emergency in a comprehensible manner, so the reasoning.
For the MV shipyards with their around 2000 employees, Monday was last week filed for bankruptcy been. The company in Wismar was hit hard by the crisis at the parent company, which got into trouble as a result of the ongoing corona pandemic. At the MV shipyards, Genting has cruise ships built for its own needs.