Temporary insolvency administrator for Hess AG: Dr. Volker Grub

By order of the District Court of Villingen-Schwenningen, dated February 13, 2013, lawyer Martin Mucha was appointed as temporary insolvency administrator for Hess AG based in Villingen-Schwenningen as well as its wholly-owned subsidiary Heß Lichttechnik GmbH lo-cated in Löbau near Dresden. In coordination with the responsible insolvency court Mucha requested on February 18, 2013, to appoint different temporary insolvency administrators for both proceedings.

Mucha remains temporary insolvency administrator of Heß Lichttechnik GmbH. By order of the District Court of Villingen-Schwenningen, dated February 18, 2013, lawyer Dr. Volker Grub from the same office as Mucha was appointed as temporary insolvency administrator of Hess AG. This was a necessary step as he realised the factual circumstances of the Hess Group last week, Mucha explains. "Due to the strong links in the legal structure of Hess AG and Heß Lichttechnik GmbH, it was not possible to exclude that Heß Lichttechnik GmbH has claims of its own against the corporate parent Hess AG and vice versa. Such a constellation involves for the insolvency administrator on both sides the danger of invalid self-dealings. The appointed temporary insolvency administrator would have to consider claims of both sides and if necessary enforce these. "Conflicts of interest of this sort are to be avoided", continues Mucha. Following cases like Schiesser AG in Radolfzell as well as Rohwedder AG in Bermatingen, Grub and Mucha will now seek to restructure Hess Group within the ongoing insolvency proceedings with combined efforts.