More than ten years ago, the Speelstad Oranje amusement park closed its doors. The question remains whether those doors will ever open again, even if entrepreneur Hennie van der Most wants that.
The Drenthe amusement park has been seized, says the striking entrepreneur. This applies to about ten companies in his name.
The reason is the bankruptcy of Speelstad Rotterdam, the company behind Rivoli Rotterdam. Since 2012, Van der Most has been working on a park on the site of a waste incinerator.
The park never opened, despite all kinds of promises from Van der Most to the municipality. Van der Most says that he has been ‘deceived’ by the municipality of Rotterdam.
Rivoli was auctioned last month for 6.5 million euros. Van der Most said he had invested 62 million euros of his own money in it.
Curator Vincent Terlouw confirms the bankruptcy of the Rotterdam company, but could not say whether, among other things, Speelstad Oranje has indeed been seized.
Van der Most said last month that Speelstad Oranje had to wait a while. “Rivoli is one, then we will see what happens with Speelstad,” he responded at the time.
Now that Rivoli is bankrupt, a reopening of Speelstad Oranje seems further away than ever. “I don’t know what will happen,” sighs Van der Most. “These are dark clouds. What happens to the Dutch team is one big question mark.”
Van der Most says that the whole situation is new to him. By his own admission, he has never experienced bankruptcy. “Some say: just have something declared bankrupt, but that’s not how I work. I always finished everything nice and neatly when things weren’t going well with a company.”
On Friday, Van der Most will discuss the settlement of the bankruptcy with the curator. There would be a debt of about 4 million euros.
“I had borrowed 7.5 million euros from a financier, which increased to 11.5 million euros. He thinks: fines are net money, so I will continue,” Van der Most grumbles. “He also wants that 4 million, so he seizes everything.”
Van der Most has also signed for this. “Yes, that’s easy. If a bank tells you to sign, then you have to sign.”
The entrepreneur from Slagharen feels stressed. “Money has always been a means to me, never an end. I get a stink.”
