Brussels, 31/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - A spokesperson for the European Commission pointed out on Thursday that the Commission had not received formal notification concerning an additional loan of DM 125 million from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the public lending bank for reconstruction in Germany, intended to rescue the bankrupt company, Philipp Holzmann. Alerted by the German press, which made considerable news of this new capital injection, the Community competition authorities called on German authorities for complete information on this operation before giving their decision for or against the loan.
EUROPE recalls that the Commission has already opened a formal inquiry lasting 18 months concerning aid initially foreseen by the German authorities in the aim of putting the BTP company back on its feet after bankruptcy declared in November 1999 (see EUROPE of 11 and 19 January 2000, p.14). The Community Executive doubts that such aid (DM 150 million in loan and a State guarantee of DM 125 million) is justified. The Commission fears that such intervention would not allow the effective recovery to viability of the enterprise and that the measures foreseen in the restructuring plan would run counter to the European rules on aid for the restructuring of companies in difficulty.