Kika/Leiner bankruptcy: 1,350 jobs in danger-customers remain on payments!

Kika/Leiner bankruptcy: 1,350 jobs in danger-customers remain on payments!

The Kika/Leiner furniture chain faces a devastating bankruptcy, which has far -reaching consequences for numerous employees and customers. Insolvency administrator Volker Leitner confirmed that 1,350 employees will lose their job, since all 17 remaining branches are to be closed after an upcoming goods. This is done in the context of a structured exploitation process that has been overdue for years. In recent years, Kika/Leiner has fought with considerable financial difficulties, which have been drastically tightened by several changes of ownership since 2013. The sale of the company's real estate to the Graz Supernova and the operational business to trading manager Hermann Wieser in 2023 was only a desperate attempt to improve the situation, which was too late. Kika/Leiner finally registered bankruptcy, which led to the closure of 23 out of 40 branches, such as Rainews reported.

There are many customers who have made down payments for their furniture, such as kitchens. According to Leitner, a large number of these customers are damaged as a creditor because their payments made due to the insolvency laws cannot be reclaimed. In some cases, the down payment guarantees offer a possibility to reclaim, but in many cases the down payments are only recognized as insolvency claims, which means that creditors could recover a fraction, often only a low percentage in the bankruptcy proceedings. This is a bitter pill for the numerous customers who now have to wait for the decision of the insolvency administrator to be hit by the end of this week, such as vienna.at reported.

Customers and employees in the focus

The customers are deeply disappointed and many have already loudly express their resentment towards the Kika/Leiner employees who are even in a difficult location. Insolvency administrator Leitner appealed to the public not to leave this resentment from the employees who also suffer from the consequences of bankruptcy. The deadlines for the registration of claims at the St. Pölten Regional Court remain, but it can already be seen that the situation is considered extremely precarious for many affected people. In addition, the creditor protector Stephan Mazal expects a variety of further claims in the insolvency proceedings that could increase the complexity of the processing.