Royal Imtech goes into administration

Once the darling of the Amsterdam stock exchange, Imtech, one of Europe’s largest engineering and technical services providers, was still hoping on Friday to sell two of its major divisions, after being declared bankrupt by a court in Rotterdam.

Imtech employs 22,000 people in 35 countries.

Imtech generated annual sales of about €4 bill before the accounting fraud emerged at its Polish and German units in 2013. The company said it was considering all options to preserve as much of the group as possible.

René ten Brinke, director of global services at Imtech Marine said: “We are extremely happy with Pon Holdings and Parcom Capital as the new “owners” of Imtech Marine”.

No figures were given, but Imtech said the sale will secure 7,300 jobs.

In addition to the two divisions, the administrators said they were in talks with dozens of potential buyers for Imtech’s operations in Spain, Belgium, Britain and for its Traffic and Infrastructure division. “This new ownership aligns perfectly with the positive developments that have already been set in motion within Imtech Marine and will also further strengthen and accelerate growth of our business”.

Imtech said a number of parties had also expressed “a genuine interest” to take over other viable parts of the business, but proceeds from the sales will be used to pay off debt.

Negotiations with its financiers had not resulted in any agreement concerning additional financing, which led to the management and supervisory board of Royal Imtech to file for the suspension of payments. Trading in the company’s stock was halted by financial authority AFM on Thursday morning.