Insolvency of traditional manufacturers has consequences for Lidl and Aldi customers
Created: 01/12/2023 21:04
By: Juliane Reyle
Prophete, a German bicycle manufacturer is bankrupt.
Several discount giants will therefore have to make an offer disappear from their shops.
The future of Prophete, a traditional German manufacturer, is currently uncertain.
The company has to file for bankruptcy shortly before Christmas.
It is not yet clear whether the bicycle manufacturer's operations will initially continue or whether they 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 that was founded more than 110 years ago.
The company owns brands such as Kreidler and VSF Fahrradmanufaktur.
Bicycles in the lower and middle price segment were previously offered by Lidl and Aldis
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.
