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Business operations at FOLBB’s two sites in Germany and Netherlands reportedly continue without restrictions, wages and salaries are secured through insolvency benefits, and the company is seeking an investor solution.
In Germany, the District Court of Rottweil appointed Jan Markus Plathner of the law firm Brinkmann & Partner as provisional insolvency administrator. According to the law firm, the FOLBB subsidiaries had been under considerable economic pressure due to persistently high energy costs, structural overcapacity and a challenging market environment. Despite operational cost-cutting measures, the liquidity situation could not be sustainably stabilized.
The provisional insolvency administrator and his team will now initiate stabilization measures in the short term and analyze the financial situation. To safeguard wages and salaries, the administrator has already arranged pre-financing of insolvency benefits for the months of June, July, and August 2026. The goal is to ensure the continuation of business operations and to develop a sustainable restructuring solution.
“Our initial focus is on stabilizing business operations and ensuring delivery capacity. At the same time, we are creating transparency regarding the financial situation and examining restructuring options. The goal is to implement an investor solution as quickly as possible through a structured process, one that also secures the jobs of our employees in the long term,” Plathner said in a statement on Wednesday June 24.
“Business operations continue. Initial discussions with key customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders have already begun to ensure the company’s operational stability,” he added.
The Baiersbronn and Eerbeek mills used to be part of Austria’s Mayr-Melnhof Group until they were sold to a group of funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management in August 2021 and jointly became FOLBB.
The Baiersbronn mill in southwestern Germany has a capacity of about 95,000 tonnes per year and employs 210 people. The Eerbeek mill in the province of Gelderland, eastern Netherlands, can produce around 150,000 tonnes per year of FBB and has 220 employees.
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