September 8 - The ship management arm of the insolvent Rickmers Group has been rescued by Bertram Rickmers and the Zeaborn Group, which have come together in a consortium to acquire the business with its main sites in Hamburg, Singapore and Cyprus.
The deal comes just a few months after preliminary self-administration of the assets of Rickmers Holding was ordered to find a solution for continuing the business.
The bidding consortium says its aim is to expand the ship management activities and to invest in further growth.
The creditors' committee of Rickmers Holding has already approved the transaction. Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the Federal Cartel Office. A purchase price in the double-digit millions was agreed between the parties.
As part of an overall solution, it is intended that the consortium also takes over the remaining business units of the Rickmers Group via an insolvency plan.
Rickmers Holding filed for insolvency on June 1, 2017. The ship and business operations of the Rickmers Group have since been continued in self-administration. On September 5, the Hamburg Local Court followed the company's motion and opened insolvency proceedings against the assets of Rickmers Holding and ordered self-administration.
This means that the executive board remains in office during the proceedings and will continue to autonomously manage the Rickmers Group. Dr Christoph Morgen from the law firm Brinkmann & Partners continues to assist the executive board in his capacity as chief insolvency officer (CIO). The Hamburg Local Court appointed Dr Jens-Sören Schröder of Johlke Niethammer & Partners as trustee, as had already been done in the provisional proceedings.
Bremen-based Zeaborn was founded in 2013 and acquired Rickmers' multipurpose business Rickmers Linie in February this year.
Rickmers Group Singapore-listed shipowning arm, Rickmers Maritime Trust, was closed at the end of August after failing to agree a restructuring plan.
