Sächsische Dampfschiffahrt

GENERAL INFORMATION

Industry:

operation of excursion boats, catering and temporary employment

Employees:

approx. 200

Turnover:

roughly EUR 20 million

Region:

national

Initial situation

The Sächsische Dampfschiffahrts-GmbH & Co. Conti Elbschiffahrts KG (SDS KG) had been the operator of the oldest and largest paddle steamer fleet in the world. In addition to the operation of nine historic paddle steamers and two saloon ships on the Elbe, the catering company ElbeZeit GmbH and the personnel leasing company CrashIce Veranstaltungsservice GmbH also belonged to the group of companies, which offered their services in particular on the ships of SDS KG but also for numerous external customers.

SDS KG already found itself in a liquidity crisis in 2019 because of repeated periods of low water and unpostponable replacement investments. As a result, a promising restructuring process was initiated. However, as a consequence of the Corona pandemic, all companies in the SDS Group suffered massive losses in turnover. In June 2020, SDS KG and ElbeZeit GmbH subsequently filed for insolvency proceedings in self-administration in order to be able to continue the ongoing restructuring on their own. At the same time, an investor process was initiated.

In addition to the ongoing restructuring process, Restrukturierungspartner were exclusively commissioned with the implementation of a structured investor process with the aim of finding an investor solution with economic effect for the business operations at the planned opening of proceedings at the beginning of August 2020.

Services

Restrukturierungspartner were initially commissioned to prepare a restructuring report in accordance with IDW S6 for SDS KG and to support the management in stakeholder communication. The expert opinion could only be presented as an interim report due to the planning uncertainties caused by the Corona pandemic.

Subsequently, Restrukturierungspartner accompanied and advised the group of companies throughout the entire self-administration procedure. Burkhard Jung acted as restructuring managing director (CRO) / general representative in addition to the previous company management. He and his team were responsible for the planning, implementation and management of the proceedings. This included, among other things, preparing the filing for insolvency, liquidity controlling and support in negotiations with potential investors.

When the insolvency proceedings were opened at the beginning of September 2020, United Rivers AG bought the entire SDS Group as part of an asset deal and has since continued operations at the Dresden site.