Sat, Nov 01, 2008
But Company Still Hopes Funding Will Come Through
A bad situation appears to be growing ever-worse for Grob
Aerospace. Company CEO Niall Olver announced Thursday the storied
planemaker has filed for full insolvency... and starting Monday,
most Grob employees will be laid off.
"As we already announced, Grob Aerospace GmbH was forced to
enter the preliminary insolvency process on
August 18, 2008," reads a statement attributed
to Olver on the Grob website. "Since this time all of our efforts
have been towards researching a new investor to allow continuing
our business in the best possible way.
"Despite a number of on-going promising negotiations with
various parties, we have unfortunately not been able to secure a
new investor within the timeframe allowed by German law.
"To ensure the August to October salary payments for all
employees in Mattsies, Grob Aerospace GmbH will now have to file
for insolvency this week. From November 3, 2008, most employees
will be released from work. A core team will remain in Mattsies to
keep business activities running on a minimum scale. The remaining
management team of Grob Aerospace GmbH together with the Grob
Aerospace AG in Zurich are continuing the ongoing discussions with
potential investors."
As ANN reported, Olver initially expressed
confidence in a successful outcome... but with venture capital
markets largely shut down in response to a global financial crisis,
there's little money to go around for companies like Grob.
Additionally, Grob's attractiveness as an investment has taken a
severe hit, with the loss of a contract with Bombardier to
fabricate the composite primary and secondary structures for that
company's upcoming Learjet 85. Development of Grob's sPn light jet
appears to be in limbo, as well.
Despite a bleak outlook, Olver still holds out hope a savior for
Grob will be found. "We hope that a new investor will get on board
and will be in a position to re-hire most of the employees," he
said. "We deeply regret this unavoidable step and thank everyone
who has supported the company."
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