The Belgian bus builder Van Hool was declared bankrupt on Monday and will be largely owned by VDL. Van Hool is a direct competitor of VDL in Eindhoven. The company has been suffering from the consequences of the pandemic, high energy costs, inflation and global supply chain issues. Together with the German Schmitz Cargobull, the Eindhoven company is investing two hundred million euros to take over the competitor.
Bankruptcy
In a press conference by crisis manager Marc Zwaaneveld and curator Jeroen Pinoy, it was announced that the tandem VDL and Schmitz Cargobull have made a binding offer and further discussions are underway. With the takeover, VDL will own approximately two-thirds, and the rest will go to the Germans. How exactly the company will be divided is still under negotiation.
According to curator Pinoy, a restart will happen quickly. “We are not talking about a matter of weeks, but days so that the remaining staff can get to work immediately”. According to a VDL spokesperson, things are not going very well. He expects that it will take ‘a few weeks’ for a restart. “VDL has made an offer for parts of the company. There are certain conditions attached. We first have to see whether these can be met and that takes time”.
Profit drop
VDL recognises the problems that Van Hool is facing and has them too, but is not in financial trouble. Last week the company announced that profits had fallen sharply, but at the bottom line, there was still a net profit of 82 million euros. A year earlier it was still 298 million euros. The causes of the decline in profits: end of car production at the VDL Nedcar factory in Born and problems with the supply of buses due to material shortages.
Jobs
Belgian media previously reported that between 1,600 and 1,800 jobs will disappear after a takeover of Van Hool by VDL and Schmitz Cargobull. This leaves only 600 to 800 of the 2,400 employees. This was confirmed at the press conference. “We know it is hard, but without a restart, it would be even worse”, said the curator.
Van Hool has a debt of approximately three hundred million euros. Two other interested buyers dropped out last week. These were the Dutch trailer builder Vlastuin and the Dumarey Group of the Flemish entrepreneur Guido Dumarey, who is known in Belgium as ‘the business doctor’.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Seetha
