The Hamburg shoe retailer Görtz has to start looking for investors again.
In February, the Munich entrepreneurial couple Leonie and Burkhard von Wangenheim, Görtz submitted a takeover bid with their company Fürderhin GmbH. But the previous plan does not seem to be working, because Görtz confirmed on Wednesday that a new investor solution is being worked on “at high pressure”. Previously, von Wangenheim told the trade magazine Textilwirtschaft that the takeover should not go ahead as planned.
The reason is said to be the worse than expected business development, the textile industry claims to have learned from unnamed sources. It is uncertain how the insolvent shoe retailer will continue.
New investors in sight?=
“The management is doing everything it can to continue to successfully pursue Görtz’s restructuring path and is working under high pressure on a new investor: inside solution for the preservation and continuation of the company, which is in sight,” said Görtz by e-mail on Wednesday . Görtz thus indirectly confirms the reports about the failed takeover. However, the shoe retailer only wants to comment on investors once a corresponding solution has been found. However, it should be clear that business operations will continue as before and that the doors of the branches that still exist will remain open.
Görtz filed for bankruptcy last September; in February, the company said it would close half of its stores. In March, the owner family of the same name sold their shares to the von Wangenheim investor couple. However, the shoe company’s business in the first quarter was worse than expected.
Editor’s Note: This post was updated on May 17 at 11:55 am with additional information from Görtz.