- Investor process for wholesale shoe retailer and logistics service provider could not be completed due to insolvency of retail shoe supplier RENO
- Liquidity situation exacerbated by after-effects of Corona crisis, considerable reluctance to buy due to increased energy costs and inflation, and receivables arrears
- Experienced restructuring specialist Dr. Christian Gerloff appointed as provisional insolvency administrator
-Customer orders will continue to be accepted and processed, employees will receive insolvency benefits until end of June
Osnabrück, April 12, 2023. The management of HR Group has filed an application for the opening of insolvency proceedings for nine German companies with the Osnabrück Local Court. The Osnabrück Local Court has followed the request and appointed the experienced restructuring specialist lawyer Dr. Christian Gerloff (law firm Gerloff Liebler Rechtsanwälte , Munich) as provisional insolvency administrator.
HR Group is one of the leading European retail groups in the footwear market; it consists of the wholesale (systems business) and logistics divisions. In the course of the restructuring and realignment of the group, the retail division RENO had already been sold to an investor as of October 1, 2022. The insolvency application has now become necessary after the search for an investor for the remaining systems business and logistics divisions, which was already well advanced and promising, unexpectedly came to a standstill.
This was triggered by RENO's insolvency filing on March 28, 2023, as the HR Group continues to provide extensive services for RENO in the areas of IT and logistics as a service provider. In addition, the HR Group, like many other competitors, is burdened by the still unresolved consequences of the Corona pandemic, the energy crisis and price increases, as well as by receivables arrears. The continuing reluctance of consumers to spend and the correspondingly lower demand from retail customers had a direct negative impact on sales and liquidity.
The provisional insolvency administrator and his team are currently obtaining an overview of the group of companies. Despite the provisional insolvency, business operations at all HR Group companies are continuing without restriction. All existing and new orders in the two divisions Systems Business and Logistics will be processed with the usual high quality. The wages and salaries of the approximately 750 employees are secured for the next three months - until the end of June 2023 - by insolvency benefits from the Federal Employment Agency. The Group's foreign companies in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary are not directly affected by the insolvency applications.
"Almost the entire shoe trade is currently in crisis. Nonetheless, the systems business and logistics are proven business models in which HR Group has expertise that is recognized and valued in the market," says preliminary insolvency administrator Dr. Christian Gerloff."Our priority now is to stabilize ongoing business operations and explore all options that will enable a viable future solution for the company and its employees. This is also in the interest of satisfying creditors in the best possible way."
About HR Group
The HR Group looks back on more than 130 years of experience in the shoe trade. After selling the RENO division with its entire store business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as of October 1, 2022, the group operates the two remaining divisions system business (wholesale) and the logistics site in Thaleischweiler-Fröschen in Rhineland-Palatinate as a service provider.
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Frank Elsner
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