Bicycles have been built in Sangerhausen for more than 100 years. But the location has had problems for a long time. Now another attempt is faltering. Sachsenring Bike can no longer pay its bill. The previous bankruptcy was also a disaster for the municipality.
For the third time in six years, the manufacturer of the traditional bicycle brand Mifa is bankrupt. The company Sachsenring Bike, based in Sangerhausen, filed for bankruptcy, as a spokesman for the responsible local court in Halle said. Sachsenring Bike took over bicycle production in the south of Saxony-Anhalt only three years ago from bankruptcy and renamed it. In addition to the well-known Mifa brand, the company primarily focused on the production of e-bikes. Mifa and the Sangerhausen location can look back on more than 110 years of bicycle building tradition.
The court appointed the lawyer Philipp Hackländer from the White & Case law firm as preliminary insolvency administrator. The production will continue, announced Hackländer. Online and factory sales also continued. The aim is to renovate the company and maintain it in the long term in order to meet the high demand for bikes and e-bikes made in Germany.
According to the preliminary insolvency administrator, around 130 employees are currently working at the plant, which is significantly fewer than in previous years. Your wages and salaries are secured for three months through the insolvency money of the Federal Employment Agency. Hackländer announced that there should be a renovation solution by the end of the year. In addition, talks have already been started with potential investors, "mainly interested parties from the industry".
Dispute over property – community in distress
Recently, there were already indications that the company could be in trouble. The district council of Mansfeld-Südharz decided last week to terminate the rental agreement with Sachsenring Bike, as a district spokeswoman said. The reason for the decision was that the company had rental debts. The spokeswoman did not want to comment on the amount. According to the "Mitteldeutscher Zeitung", it is around 96,000 euros.
With the insolvency of your tenant, the financial mess with regard to the bicycle manufacturer also increases for the district of Mansfeld-Südharz. Because the municipality also has to cope with a setback in the dispute over whether the plant property belongs to it. Shortly before the first Mifa bankruptcy six years ago, the district bought the property from the company in order to provide the important employer with liquidity. Such deals are not allowed if a company is actually already insolvent. The then insolvency administrator Lucas Flöther therefore sued for the return of the property – and a few days ago the Federal Court of Justice was right.
This means that the district no longer owns the property purchased for 5.7 million euros, and the purchase price at that time is not returned. And since the deal should not have existed, the district has to pay back rental income of 273,600 euros. Mifa insolvency administrator Flöther announced to sell the property on. Whether bicycles will also be assembled there in the future depends on the successful restructuring of the new provisional insolvency administrator Hackländer.
.