Several discounter giants will have to pass an offer from their stores because Prophete, a German bicycle manufacturer, is bankrupt.
Bankruptcy proceedings are underway.
The future of a traditional German manufacturer, Prophete, is currently uncertain.
The company filed for bankruptcy just 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 even notice the consequences of the company's bankruptcy in the discounters' offers.
Future of Prophete workers uncertain
It is just as uncertain what the future will look like for the 280 employees at Prophete in Rheda-Wiedenbrück (North Rhine-Westphalia) and the 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.
Other well-known companies are also currently insolvent - for example Galeria-Kaufhof.
An up-and-coming fashion retailer is said to have already announced its interest in taking over some branches.
Previously in Lidl and Aldi's range: bicycles were in the lower and middle price segment
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 (December 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.
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