Hellweg seeks court closure of its final four stores

Hellweg has applied to close its remaining four Austrian stores through court proceedings, ORF reported on Monday. The application was submitted to the Linz Regional Court and affects two stores in Upper Austria and one each in Salzburg and Styria, with 116 employees in total.

The stores are located in Ried im Innkreis and Kirchdorf an der Krems in Upper Austria, Straßwalchen in Salzburg, and Graz-Eggenberg in Styria.

The stated aim is an orderly handover to an investor. The four locations are expected to continue operating with their own inventories, and their employees are to be taken on. The market management and fire safety departments have been excluded from the closure applications to ensure the locations remain secure during the disposal process.

A closure application had already been submitted on August 12 for Hellweg’s stores in Graz-Raaba and Fürstenfeld in Styria, which employed 44 people. The prospective buyer did not see a possibility of continuing operations at those locations. Their inventories are scheduled to be auctioned from September 7.

Restructuring proceedings since June

Restructuring proceedings under self-administration were opened on June 30 for the Austrian subsidiary of the German DIY chain at the Linz Regional Court. The German parent company had filed for insolvency on June 16.

According to creditor protection organisations, the Austrian business had liabilities of 23.88 million euros to about 280 creditors. Hellweg offered the statutory minimum quota of 30 percent. At the beginning of the proceedings, the chain still had six stores and 165 employees in Austria.