Tours Travel

Neckermann wants to be operational at the beginning of May

The Neckermann travel agency chain should be operational again on 2 May. At least that is the wish of the judicial representatives.

Because for the time being Neckermann does not have a new lender yet. Negotiations are ongoing, but the judicial representatives are currently not willing to give names of candidates or indicate the level of interest. But all interested parties must have made an offer before April 2.

Neckermann has been in a precarious financial situation for months. At the end of 2019, the British parent company Thomas Cook went into liquidation, after which the chain was taken over for barely 750,000 euros by the Spanish Vamos, which is part of the Swiss private equity group Spring Capital. But the corona crisis plummeted Vamos’s steep ambitions for Neckermann, and at the beginning of October last year, the chain had to file for protection from its creditors. Vamos then promised to come up with 3.5 million euros of fresh money. But Neckermann, which still has about 50 shops and about 150 employees in our country, has never seen a euro of that.

Luxembourg fund

The chain avoided bankruptcy in February by initiating a transfer under judicial authority. Since then, legal representatives have been looking for a suitable investor. Not an easy task, because Neckermann is faced with high costs and urgently needs to invest in a new digital booking platform.

The Luxembourg fund Futura Capital was previously mentioned as a potential acquirer. This fund, which specializes in patching up Walloon companies, already showed interest in October, but then encountered a veto from Vamos main shareholder Spring Capital.

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