Insolvency administrators issue statement on Henniges Grefrath

ERJ staff report (DS)

Düsseldorf, Germany -- Dr. Wolf von der Fecht, insolvency administrator of

Henniges Automotive Grefrath GmbH & Co. KG (Henniges), has issued a statement on the partial sale of the unit to a company controlled by the Ruia brothers.

The company will continue at a smaller scale under the management of Jürgen Hein, who was previously Chief Financial Officer at Draftex,

Henniges' predecessor company. The company has been re-named Draftex Automotive GmbH.

The statement says, "All assets of the company that specialises in the production of sealing systems for the automobile industry, were acquired by the newly founded Draftex Automotive GmbH (Draftex) company as part of an asset deal. This transaction secures the future of the site lastingly. 407 jobs will be

saved.

Facing a reduction of over 50 percent in annual sales -- to euro 45 million from euro 96 million -- the company filed for insolvency on 27 November 2008 when it had 797 employees. The adminstrators immediately cut a number of jobs.

All customers have agreed to keep their orders with Draftex

until at least 2011. Moreover, said the statement, "Draftex will be considered favourably when placing new orders. “I am very satisfied that we have been able to win our customers for the Draftex concept. Hence, they are helping the new owner to put the company on a solid basis right from the start,” says Dr. Wolf von der Fecht.

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Press release from the Administrators