It should have been his last trick. The once wealthy businessman Hennie van der Most (77) wanted to build the Rivoli amusement park, but ended up on a roller coaster. The Rotterdam court declared his companies bankrupt.
He sounds upset. It is the day after the Rotterdam court declared bankruptcy on the amusement park’s operating company. The bankruptcy has been filed for by an investment fund. The approximately ten other companies that Van der Most still has have been seized.
The reason is the debacle surrounding the Rivoli recreational park, which was to be built on the site of a former waste processor in Rotterdam. After years of struggles, it became a prestige issue for the entrepreneur, who previously worked from Slagharen and once had a mention in the prestigious Quote500, the list of the richest Dutch people.
He invested 62 million of his own assets in the park. But last month the curtain fell for Van der Most and the park was auctioned for 6.5 million euros.
Due to penalty interest, there is still a debt of approximately 4 million euros. Reason for creditors to file for bankruptcy. Van der Most heard during the day yesterday that it had been pronounced.
“What now? I have to report to the curator on Friday. I will hear more then,” he responds.
Van der Most has another dozen companies to his name, including Speelstad Oranje.
In order to take out new loans for Rivoli, he has pledged his estate at Gorssel as collateral. He is now also in danger of losing his private home.
“Of course you do that, because I believed in this project. I lived there for about fifteen years,” says Van der Most. “Everything has now been seized. This is a tragedy. An unmitigated disaster.”
Van der Most was also accused of theft. In the run-up to the auction, he had collected several items from the park.
Something that was captured by surveillance cameras of the new owner, real estate magnate Wim Beelen.
Van der Most speaks of a misunderstanding. He believed he was in the right. “When you normally move, you also take your table and chairs with you, right? Only the small print turned out to say that this was not allowed. I did indeed take four loads of stuff with me. But everything goes back neatly.”
Van der Most is particularly upset about – as he calls it – the opposition he received from the municipality of Rotterdam. “I was brought in with the red carpet, but then I was constantly opposed. And now they suddenly want to build houses there? Sorry, I can only see that I feel screwed by the municipality of Rotterdam.”
