Air Belgium (KF) is nearing bankruptcy again, as a court in Nivelles has granted the airline a two-week extension to secure new financial backing, AirwaysMag.com reported. After almost a year of creditor protection, the airline has faced a significant drop in revenue—down 40%—following its cessation of passenger flights. The company is grappling with an annual loss of €22 million and a negative equity of €69 million, requiring at least €18 million in funding to avoid collapse.
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Belgium
Struggling Oudenaarde-based GAN specialist BelGaN has failed to secure the investment needed to continue and has declared bankruptcy, Evertiq.com reported. BelGaN's history goes back to 2008, when ON Semiconductor acquired the Oudenaarde site and made semiconductor products for the automotive, industrial and medical sectors. In 2022, BelGaN acquired the fab, and decided to switch production from traditional silicon chips to gallium nitride chips, which can be used in electric chargers, electric cars and data centres. The company ran out of cash to fund the transition, hence this announcement.
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A Belgian court ruled Thursday that all assets in the country belonging to American investment group 777 Partners can be seized, in the latest legal setback for the embattled company that owns Standard Liège and several other soccer clubs, the Associated Press reported. The decision by a court in Liege came after Standard's former owner Bruno Venanzi and shareholders of the company holding the club’s stadium requested the move, saying 777 had defaulted on a payment.
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Fashion retailer Esprit’s Belgium subsidiary has filed for insolvency due to rising costs and cash flow difficulties, the Wall Street Journal reported. Esprit Belgie Retail filed for the commencement of insolvency proceedings over its assets at the insolvency court of Belgium on April 8, Esprit said late Monday in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Esprit said that its Europe retail business operations were under stress because of high energy and logistics costs and weak consumer sentiment. Late last month, the fashion retailer’s Swiss unit had filed for insolvency.
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Van Hool's bankruptcy is now unavoidable, crisis manager Marc Zwaaneveld (appointed in early 2024) said in an interview with De Standaard, Sustainable Bus reported. Production of trambuses for Paris is a high risk as well, as he specifically stated that those buses "cost too much to make.” Van Hool announced its plan to stop production of city buses (and relocating business in Macedonia) on 11th March. Later on, the company asked for protection from creditors.
Powerdale, once a stalwart in Belgium's electric vehicle charging infrastructure, has left hundreds, if not thousands, of its customers in the lurch following its bankruptcy last year, the Brussels Times reported. The repercussions are keenly felt as users find themselves unable to utilise the charging stations due to the failure of the brand's accompanying app. Reports from disgruntled users indicate that attempts to access the app have resulted in messages stating their accounts have been deactivated.
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Oxurion NV, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Leuven, announced on Dec. 28 that it has avoided bankruptcy by entering into a binding letter of intent (LOI) with Atlas Special Opportunities LLC (Atlas) and an addendum to the existing subscription agreement for convertible bonds with Atlas, AfternoonHeadlines.com reported.
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The Belgian National Bank chief’s term has yet to be renewed, potentially leaving the central bank without a leader early next year, Bloomberg News reported. Governor Pierre Wunsch’s mandate comes to an end Jan. 1 and “so far, the government has not announced a decision related to this mandate,” the institution’s spokesman said by e-mail on Wednesday. Wunsch, 56, has been at the central bank since 2011 and took the top job in 2019 when he was appointed for a five-year term.
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Under Belgian law, criminal and civil judges can impose a prohibition on both individuals and corporate entities to prevent them from performing certain management functions in a company (management prohibition) upon conviction or in the context of insolvency, Linklaters reported. In practice, however, these management prohibitions often remain a dead letter, as persons who are prohibited from taking up a directorship are still appointed directors due to a lack of monitoring of compliance with these prohibitions.
Belgium's FSMA regulator on Friday ordered Binance to cease offering any virtual currency services in the country, adding to pressure on the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Reuters reported. Binance, which was founded by Changpeng Zhao in Shanghai in 2017, has grown to dominate the crypto industry but also faces scrutiny from regulators keen to clamp down on money-laundering. It has consistently defended its business practices.
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