Traditional manufacturer goes bankrupt: consequences for Lidl and Aldi customers

Created: 2023-01-06 04:59

By: Juliane Reyle

The German bicycle manufacturer Prophete is bankrupt: This has consequences for several discount giants.

The future of the company remains uncertain - an offer disappears from the stores.

The traditional German manufacturer Prophete has to file for bankruptcy, its future is uncertain.

It is not yet clear whether the bicycle manufacturer will continue to operate or whether it will have to be stopped directly, as “Chip” writes.

Some customers of Aldi and Lidl will probably notice the consequences of the company's bankruptcy in the discounters' offers.

It is uncertain what the future will look like for the 280 employees at Prophete in Rheda-Wiedenbrück (North Rhine-Westphalia) and 450 employees at Cycle-Union, the subsidiary in Oldenburg (Lower Saxony).

Prophete is a family business founded more than 110 years ago.

The company owns brands such as Kreidler and VSF Fahrradmanufaktur.

So far, Lidl and Aldi have offered bicycles in the lower and middle price segments

The bicycles produced by Prophete are traded in the lower and middle price segment and are also sold at Aldi and Lidl, among others.

A cessation of operations therefore has consequences for people who buy their bikes from discounters.

"Die Glocke" writes that shortly before Christmas (January 21), the company filed for insolvency before the district court in Bielefeld.

The subsidiary Cycle-Union is also affected by the solvency.

Reasons for insolvency not yet known: cooperation with AEG

The lawyer Manuel Sack from the law firm Brinkmann and Partners is appointed as the provisional insolvency administrator.

The exact reasons for the financial problems at Prophete are not yet known, but should now be analyzed in the coming weeks.

In the past, the company has repeatedly worked with larger corporations such as Samsung.

It was not until 2016 that Prophete started a cooperation with AEG in order to produce e-bikes together with the company.

The chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is also affected by insolvency and announces before Christmas that more branches will have to be closed than previously assumed.

Among other things, the Galeria Kaufhof branch in Heilbronn is threatened with closure.