Bankruptcy proceedings were opened in Salzburg on Monday over the estate of the entrepreneur Hubert Palfinger. The founder and former head of the crane construction company Palfinger AG died on January 19, 2020. As the credit protection association of 1870 informed on Tuesday, the registered claims amount to around 50 million euros. No precise information is yet available about the amount of assets.
“A serious forecast with regard to a possible distribution quota is currently not possible,” said the KSV. “The intrinsic value or usability of the assets will still have to be checked.” The credit protection association put the number of creditors at around 20. The Salzburg attorney Christian Schubeck, who was appointed as trustee, said that part of the claims would be disputed.
Initially, a restructuring process should have secured a 20 percent quota for the creditors, but the application of April 29, 2021 was withdrawn yesterday. At that time there was still talk of liabilities in the amount of 23 to 33 million euros, which were offset by assets in the double-digit millions.
As the Alpenländischer Kreditorenverband (AKV) reported at the time, there are various agreements between the deceased and the Palfinger Privatstiftung regarding an exemption from all liabilities in connection with the insolvent Hubert Palfinger Technologies GmbH (HPT) or donations to repay personal liabilities.
HPT, which specializes in the maintenance of ship hulls and offshore systems, with its headquarters in Salzburg and a plant in Wenig near Admont in Styria, was a legally completely independent company of Hubert Palfinger and not part of Palfinger AG. Following his death, HPT opened bankruptcy proceedings in February 2020 that have not yet been completed. The company with around 75 employees was closed.