2023-08-25 08:06:00
Due to the protection, all bankruptcy applications for the bargain chain recently filed by creditors are temporarily on hold, the court in Leeuwarden has ruled.
According to Big Bazar’s lawyer, the chain uses the so-called Whoa procedure. Since 2021, companies have an extra option to prevent bankruptcy. The Whoa procedure helps viable companies that have healthy activities but are still at risk of failing because of a heavy debt burden, to implement a reorganization.
The chain’s lawyer says that Big Bazar will collect all creditors in the near future and will try to reach an agreement with them. It is not yet clear how long Big Bazar will be given by the judge to do this. Another hearing will be held on September 7. Big Bazar has asked for a period of four months.
Price increases and vacancy
Big Bazar has been having a rough time lately. More and more parties complained that the company no longer paid bills. Big Bazar owes its own challenges to, among other things, the sharp price rises in the shopping street, which has caused customers to spend less at the chain. Vacancy has also increased in some shopping areas. Several landlords had already gone to court for rent arrears. Suppliers also started to get nervous.
But Big Bazar CEO Heerke Kooistra emphasized earlier this week that all this does not have to mean the end of Big Bazar. His company might take longer to pay all bills. “But it’s not true that we can’t afford it.” Kooistra said earlier that he wants to close twenty loss-making stores and wants rent reductions for another twenty stores. That would be necessary to keep the bargain chain with a total of 120 branches and 1400 employees “healthy”.
Read also:
Plagued bargain chain Big Bazar in further trouble: landlord Wereldhave is also filing for bankruptcy for it
The future of Big Bazar is uncertain now that a large creditor has also filed for bankruptcy of the retail chain. “It’s going to be a tough story.”
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