Brussels, 31/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission took a final negative decision on state aid of EUR 71.3 million awarded to Graf von Henneberg Porzellan GmbH, Thüringen (Germany). In line with its practice, the Commission also decided that the currently existing Graf von Henneberg is jointly liable with its predecessor company for the recovery of all the incompatible aid.
Graf von Henneberg, privatised in 1991, suffered losses until it filed for bankruptcy in July 1995. The company had received State aid of some EUR 73.5 million (DEM 143.8 million). In December 1995 the administrator in bankruptcy of Graf von Henneberg created a new company under the same name, which continued the same activities as its predecessor. The estate of bankruptcy held the majority 51% stake and a public financing institution, the Thüringer Industriebeteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG ("TIB"), took over the remaining 49% stake. The assets were then sold to the second Graf von Henneberg without any open call for tender. In 1998 a former employee of the TIB took over all the shares, again without any open call for tender. Until the year 2000, this second Graf von Henneberg received aid of some EUR 15.4 million (DEM 30 million).
Following complaints and unsuccessful repeated requests for information, the Commission initiated an in-depth investigation in June 2000. The Commission then discovered new aid into which it extended the investigation procedure in April 2001. After examining a total of 43 financial measures, the Commission concluded that aid of some EUR 17.6 million was covered by approved aid schemes. The remaining alleged restructuring aid of EUR 71.3 million is incompatible as it did not comply with the Community Guidelines for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty. The Commission particularly noted the absence of a realistic restructuring plan which could lead to the restoration of the long term viability of the company and the lack of a private contribution to the restructuring.
The Commission has considered that the sale of the assets form the first to the second Graf von Henneberg constitutes an intra-group asset deal, in which the market forces had no chance to wash away the effects of the aid. Consequently, the second Graf von Henneberg benefits from aid to its predecessor with whom it is jointly liable to pay back the incompatible aid. Furthermore, the Commission also decided to extend its recovery order to any other undertaking which continues the business of Graf von Henneberg by using its assets, if these are not sold within an open call for tender.
European Parliament Plenary Session