German Q-Cells insolvency administrator to sue former managers, consultants - report

Sep 4, 2013 - The insolvency administrator of former German solar company Q-Cells plans to claim damages of reportedly some EUR 100 million (USD 132m) from the company's former managers and consultancy firms for delaying its insolvency, German daily newspaper Die Welt said today.

The insolvency administrator Henning Schorisch intends to sue former CEO and CFO Nedim Cen and chief operating officer Andreas von Zitzewitz for postponing the company's insolvency procedures by four months until April 2012. The administrator argues that the company should have entered insolvency as early as January 2012 when a decision by a district court blocked the company's restructuring plans of converting bonds into equity. The management, however, started the proceedings after the ruling was confirmed by a higher court in a similar case. Schorisch claims it was clear the company could not escape insolvency after the court's decision in January and wants to reclaim the sum drained from the company for the four-month period, Die Welt said.

The insolvency administrator accuses the company's legal and financial advisers, including accounting firm KPMG and a strategy consultant from McKinsey of postponing Q-Cells insolvency proceedings in the clearly hopeless situation, while collecting consultancy fees. Schorisch already started legal actions against law firm Hengeler Mueller on August 28, spokesman Schofield Risch told Die Welt.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.317)

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