State rescue programs: the horror tale of the zombie companies

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James Bond actor Sean Connery with Aston Martin model DB5 1964:

Not to be killed

Photo: MPTV / interTOPICS / ddp images

What do James Bond and Aston Martin have in common?

Both are impossible to kill.

While 007 survives any brawl, the British luxury car brand has already gone through seven bankruptcies in its 108-year history.

Business years in the black are exceptional, but Aston Martin is still manufacturing.

The company clearly "has no time to die."

At least that's the name of the new Bond film that could hit cinemas in April.

And this could also be the motto of those companies that economists like to call »zombies«.

Companies that are actually bankrupt, but are artificially kept alive through cheap loans or government aid.

Studies show that the number of terminally ill companies has increased in the large industrialized countries.

According to an analysis by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the proportion of companies whose profits are insufficient to pay the interest on their loans has risen from 4 to 15 percent since the mid-1980s.

In the broad European Stoxx 600 stock market index, every tenth listed company is now a zombie, has determined the Bank of America.

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