PILSEN STEEL was previously considered to be the world largest producer of windmill shafts and one of the main suppliers of large crankshafts for diesel engines.
As a result of the deal, Max Aicher Pilsen, s.r.o. – the newly founded Czech subsidiary of Max Aicher GmbH & Co. KG – acquired real estate property and plots of land measuring more than 200,000 m² together with all movable and immovable assets pertaining to the business activities of the insolvent companies, including machinery, equipment, supplies and scrap metal. The Max Aicher Group is a family business, founded in 1924 in Freilassing, southern Germany, with annual turnover of around EUR 1 billion. The group is active in the steel, construction, real estate and tourism industries, as well as in the environment and recycling sectors, and is one of the largest independent steel companies in Europe.
The transaction, which involved purchasing the business of the insolvent companies PILSEN STEEL s.r.o. and Pilsen Estates s.r.o., was exceptional in several respects. The companies from the PILSEN STEEL group have been the subject of two insolvency proceedings in the last 10 years, namely a reorganisation, allowed at the beginning of 2013 and ending in 2015, and its subsequent bankruptcy, which was declared in 2019. The PILSEN STEEL group’s premises are brownfield and originate, for the most part, both in terms of construction and technology, from the middle of the last century; moreover, they have complex connections with dozens of other companies that have production located in former Škoda plants. In addition, the process of mass redundancies of almost 500 employees had to be addressed before the sale. Despite these hurdles the sale was completed (during the COVID-19 crisis) in record time.
The Kinstellar team was led by Kamil Blažek (Partner) and involved Václav Kment (Associate) and Štěpánka Havlíková (Junior Associate).