A Bonn district court has ruled in favour of self-administration at IVG, Germany's largest property company by assets under management which filed for creditor protection in August.
A Bonn district court has ruled in favour of self-administration at IVG, Germany's largest property company by assets under management which filed for creditor protection in August.
The troubled property company said the decision will allow the restructuring to proceed on the basis of an insolvency plan devised by IVG's board of management.
IVG filed for court protection in August after failing to reach agreement with creditors on the restructuring of its €3 bn debt pile.
'We were able to use the time under the protective shield proceedings to establish the requirements for the successful reorganisation of the company. I am confident that we can now also successfully master the final challenges,' commented CEO Wolfgang Schäfers.
In total IVG has €21 bn of assets under management, including €4 bn of property on its balance sheet and almost €12 bn held in its institutional real estate fund business.
IVG said it will submit the plan to the court, provisionally before Christmas of this year. If the plan is then accepted by the creditors and confirmed by the court, the insolvency proceedings can be lifted in the first half of 2014 as planned, it added.
Bonn-based IVG is benefiting from recent reforms of German insolvency laws which make it easier for companies suffering from illiquidity to implement a reorganisation of the business within a few months.
Before the reforms were introduced in March 2012, management was removed from all decision-making functions while an administrator was appointed to decide whether to sell the insolvent company to a strategic investor or wind down its operations.
