Germany bites the dust

A family-owned car dealer group founded in Siegen in 1898 and, by its own account, one of the twenty largest in Germany. On 3 September 2026 six operating companies (Horst Wahl, Alfred Wahl, K & W-Wahl Management, Räder- & Pflegecenter Wahl, Lackierzentrum Siegerland and K & W mobility) applied to Amtsgericht Siegen for restructuring in self-administration, with Michael Böhner appointed Generalbevollmächtigter and Schultze & Braun advising. All 31 sites in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen and Rheinland-Pfalz keep trading, and wages for the roughly 1,000 staff are covered by insolvency benefit to the end of November, with the restructuring meant to carry them from December. The company blames cost rises running alongside falling revenue after several years of geopolitical disruption, heavy purchasing restraint from business and private customers alike, and a repositioning of its brand portfolio.

INDat ↗

The largest Renault dealer group in Germany, selling Renault, Dacia, Opel, Fiat, Jeep, Kia, BYD and Citroën from around 84 sites across Berlin, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It filed on 1 September 2026 and Amtsgericht Charlottenburg ordered preliminary insolvency administration the next day over both Autohaus Gotthard König GmbH in Berlin and its wholly owned subsidiary Autohaus König GmbH in Teltow, appointing the Berlin lawyer Rainer Eckert. Sales, workshops, parts and servicing carry on at every site, and August wages for the roughly 1,200 staff are paid retrospectively out of insolvency benefit. The causes given are the structural change in car retailing: the switch from combustion engines to electric drive, sharper competition from new entrants and a new car market that has stopped growing. Talks between Stellantis, management and the financing banks on a restructuring package had run through the summer without producing one.

INDat ↗

A family brewery in Bad Schussenried in Upper Swabia, in Ott hands for 120 years and run by the fourth generation. Amtsgericht Ravensburg opened proceedings on 1 September 2026 for insolvency and over-indebtedness, with Matthäus Roesch of Ravensburg as administrator, after preliminary proceedings that ran through the summer. Brewing carries on and the roughly 60 staff are now paid out of current revenue rather than insolvency benefit. The administrator gives the causes as financial obligations left over from the pandemic and the loans taken out for a modernisation of production that ran into the millions: the plant is technically up to date, but sales volumes are too low to carry it. Revenue was around €8.5m.

AllgäuHIT ↗

A used textile recycler at Melle in the Osnabrück district, buying, sorting and grading old clothing and shipping it on to customers in Africa, Asia and eastern Europe. Wasteland GmbH & Co. KG filed for a protective shield at Amtsgericht Osnabrück on 1 September 2026, with Malte Köster of KÖSTERBERNER appointed to the proceedings. Sorting carries on and pay for the roughly 100 staff is covered. The cause given is the war in Iran: shipping routes to those markets were disrupted, deliveries to customers ran late and payments came in slower and smaller, while the cost increases of the past two years could not be passed on to buyers in a used textiles market that has been under pressure for two years.

ZRI ↗

A leather goods maker at Obertshausen near Offenbach, founded in 1928 and still family owned, selling bags and small leather articles through wholesale and its own shops. Amtsgericht Offenbach am Main opened restructuring proceedings in self-administration on 1 September 2026 over PICARD Lederwaren GmbH & Co. KG and PICARD Leathergoods Retail GmbH & Co. KG, after both filed in mid-June. Nadja Raiß of K&L Gates is Sachwalter, with Holger Rhode and Raul Taras of Görg and Thomas Montag as restructuring officers. Trading carries on and wages for the roughly 90 staff are covered. The company gives the cause as customers holding back on purchases in the general economic climate. It is the second restructuring in five years: the first, during the pandemic, was completed in 2021. The plan is to finish these proceedings by autumn 2026.

INDat ↗

The commercial arm of the Bundesverband Windenergie, a wholly owned subsidiary on the EUREF campus in Berlin that runs the association's seminars, training and other services for the wind industry. It filed for restructuring in self-administration at Amtsgericht Charlottenburg on 28 August 2026, no longer able to pay salaries. Every commercial activity of the association has sat inside this company since January 2025, and revenue was around €6.5m in 2024. The association itself is not in the proceedings and carries on. BWE president Bärbel Heidebroek gives the cause as the state of the industry it sells to: wind companies have been cutting staff and cutting training and marketing budgets across the board, which reaches a cross-industry seminar provider first. Redundancies are expected.

Photon ↗

An aluminium extruder at Neumünster belonging to the Russian group UC Rusal. Amtsgericht Neumünster ordered preliminary insolvency administration on 28 August 2026 and appointed the Hamburg lawyer Jennie Best. The plant had already been standing still since 1 June, when both the material and the energy supply the process needs ran out, and the roughly 100 staff had gone without wages since the same month, with IG Metall pressing the company through the summer while management maintained that insolvency was not the route it was taking. The causes given are sharply higher energy prices, weak demand and competitive pressure, on top of the position of a Russian owner under sanctions. It is the second German aluminium producer to go this year: Aluminium Rheinfelden filed in July with 185 jobs at stake.

Leinetal24 ↗

A brewery tracing its roots in Kaufbeuren back to 1308 and the last of the brewing houses left in the town. Preliminary self-administration was ordered in mid-June and proceedings over the operating company, ABK Betriebsgesellschaft der Aktienbrauerei Kaufbeuren GmbH, were opened in self-administration on 28 August 2026, with Olaf Spiekermann as Sachwalter and Volker P. Zimmerer staying on as restructuring manager. Brewing carries on at the same volume, and the beers, wine mixes and lemonades stay in the range, under a plan the majority shareholder ROKiT has funded. But 46 of the 84 posts go and those affected are offered a move into a transfer company. Zimmerer gives the causes as a workforce too large by the standards of the industry and the personnel costs that came with it, on top of falling beer sales, dearer raw materials, deferred investment and missed product trends.

t-online ↗

A tool and mould maker at Dautphe in Hessen, in business since 1936 and building complex die-casting tools and prototypes, mostly for carmakers and the suppliers around them. It filed on 26 August 2026 and Amtsgericht Marburg ordered preliminary proceedings the next day, appointing Julia Kappel-Gnirs of hww hermann wienberg wilhelm in Frankfurt. Work goes on unchanged and insolvency benefit covers the roughly 90 staff for three months. The causes given are the state of the car industry, swings in the market and an order intake that short-time work could no longer absorb. The company had already restructured once earlier this decade.

INDat ↗

The DIY and garden chain Hellweg bought from the BayWa group in 2012 and kept trading under the BayWa name: 46 stores in Germany, six in Austria and a Bavarian office at Garching, with the registered seat at the Hellweg address in Dortmund. It filed for self-administration at Amtsgericht Essen on 17 June 2026 alongside Hellweg, and the court opened proceedings over both on 27 August 2026 with Stefan Denkhaus as Sachwalter. Head office staff at Dortmund and Garching were let go as the proceedings opened. Buyers have been found for 35 of the more than 110 stores the two chains run between them, Obi being interested in up to twelve; the rest close by the end of November. The reasons given were rising purchase prices, persistent consumer restraint, high rents and weaker demand from construction.

t-online ↗

The German arm of the Russian pharmaceuticals group R-Pharm, a plant that had belonged to Pfizer before the 2014 takeover. It filed in mid-March 2026 and ran an investor process through the summer; on 27 August the administrator Markus Fröhlich confirmed it had failed, because neither of the two remaining bidders could show secured financing. Employment contracts end on 31 August and most of the 280 staff are released at the same time, with 50 to 60 kept on short term to dismantle the site. The cause was the EU sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine and the Russian counter-sanctions: business partners withdrew and the order book collapsed.

b4b Schwaben ↗

A textile finisher in the Aalen district of Unterkochen, dyeing and coating fabric, and once the market leader in its niche. Amtsgericht Aalen ordered preliminary insolvency administration on 25 August 2026 and appointed Ilkin Bananyarli of PLUTA, who runs the business together with the existing management while every order on the books is worked through. Wages for around 110 staff are covered by insolvency benefit for three months. The company puts the liquidity gap down to orders falling away with the wider economy and to sharply higher costs, energy above all. This is its fourth insolvency after 2016, 2019 and 2020.

INDat ↗

The maker of Halberstädter Würstchen, one of the best known food brands in the east. This was its third insolvency in three years: it filed at Amtsgericht Magdeburg in early June 2026 and production stopped that same week. No buyer was found, and on 25 August the administrator Karina Schwarz wound the business up and gave every employee notice. Because the previous insolvency plan was never fulfilled, the staff were not entitled to insolvency benefit from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, so there was no cushion at all. The date here is the shutdown, not the June filing.

Volksstimme ↗

A care home of 183 places at Neuhaus am Inn in Lower Bavaria. Amtsgericht Passau ordered preliminary self-administration on 21 August 2026 and appointed Julian Hageböke of BRL Boege Rohde Luebbehuesen as provisional Sachwalter. The home stays open and insolvency benefit covers the roughly 140 staff. The trigger was an order from the Landratsamt on 29 July barring it from admitting or caring for residents at care levels 4 and 5 and from offering short-term places, after what the authority called repeated serious failings in nursing care. Residents had to be moved and their fees went with them while the running costs stayed where they were. The operator has appealed the order and says it is in talks with the authority.

INDat ↗

A family upholstered furniture maker in Sonnefeld in Upper Franconia, founded in 1927 and with an anniversary celebration booked for the end of September. It filed at Amtsgericht Coburg on 21 August 2026 under IN 207/26 and the court appointed Klaus-Christof Ehrlicher of Linse & Ehrlicher in Coburg as preliminary administrator. All 85 staff keep working while a buyer is sought, with wages covered by insolvency benefit for three months. The causes given are continued consumer restraint over furniture, higher energy prices and dearer raw materials and logistics. Sales of upholstered furniture in Germany fell 9 percent in the first quarter of 2026.

t-online ↗

A group in business since 1965, split between König Fachpersonal, which places tradespeople from more than 15 German sites, and König Profilsysteme, which makes metal profiles for interior fit-out at the Moringen headquarters. Amtsgericht Göttingen ordered preliminary self-administration on 19 August 2026 over the holding company and both operating firms, with Markus Kohlstedt as provisional Sachwalter and Fredrik Ljungman and Christian Stoffler brought in as restructuring managers. Wages are covered by insolvency benefit while a structured investor process runs to the end of the year. The group gives three reasons: capacity utilisation too low, rising price and margin pressure, and internal structural problems. Revenue was around €100m in 2025.

INDat ↗

A maker of technical plastic parts with roots going back to 1937: filter housings for machinery, connectors for engine management, valve housings for truck brakes, and parts for furniture, agricultural machinery and aerospace. Amtsgericht Trier ordered preliminary administration on 18 August 2026 and appointed Alexander Lamberty. The 49 staff keep working while the administrator and managing director Horst Molitor run an investor search, with insolvency benefit pre-financed for August to October. No cause has been made public; the reporting places the filing in the wider run of automotive supply failures.

INDat ↗

A fitter of bakery shops and production rooms, working for craft bakeries across Germany. Amtsgericht Köln ordered preliminary self-administration on 18 August 2026 and the business carries on with all 138 staff, whose wages are covered by insolvency benefit to the end of October. The company traces its collapse in orders to its customers: years of cost pressure on craft bakeries, plus much longer approval times, left them postponing fit-outs and refurbishments.

t-online ↗

A dairy processor making milk ingredients and long-life milk products and trading in raw milk, putting through around 150 million kilos of milk a year. Hochwald has held the majority since 2020. Almil filed at Amtsgericht Mühldorf am Inn on 18 August 2026, saying it moved early and of its own accord to adapt to changed market conditions. Operations continue and wages are covered by insolvency benefit through October while restructuring is prepared. Reporting disagrees on what happens to the Weiding site afterwards: the company frames the filing as securing its future, while other accounts describe a wind-down from September with a skeleton crew taking in milk into 2027.

agrarheute ↗

One of the larger camper van rental firms in the country, running 428 vehicles from twelve stations in Germany and Austria under the Vanever name. It filed at Amtsgericht München on 7 August 2026, the court appointed Rolf Pohlmann as preliminary administrator on 12 August, and the rental business stopped on Sunday 16 August with no further vehicles handed over, leaving hundreds of holidaymakers without the camper they had booked. Pohlmann gives the immediate cause as the main vehicle supplier cancelling its contract on 29 July over unpaid bills, which put more than half the fleet out of use and left the rental operation unviable. Behind that sit bookings made later and cancelled more often from spring 2026, which the company blames on the outbreak of the Iran war, fuel prices and the wider downturn, against vehicle and financing costs that had risen since the pandemic boom ended. It is the third sizeable German camper rental company to fail in about two years.

CamperStyle ↗

A maker of purpose-built transport and storage containers at Gladenbach in Hessen, supplying carmakers and their suppliers to German standards. It applied for self-administration at Amtsgericht Marburg on 13 August 2026 and the court granted it, appointing Hans-Jörg Laudenbach of Möller Theobald Jung Zenger in Gießen as provisional Sachwalter. Production and deliveries carry on and the employment agency covers the roughly 60 staff through to October. Management says it moved before it had to rather than waiting to become insolvent, and gives the causes as high energy and raw material costs and customers cutting their own production and ordering less. Revenue was around €8m. An investor process is running.

INDat ↗

Building and industrial fitting. Thor Industriemontagen went under a protective shield in June; close corporate ties pulled the subsidiaries in during August. Four sites affected: Erfurt, Heiligenstadt, Menteroda, Leinefelde-Worbis. Management blames higher costs, higher interest rates, and construction and refurbishment projects that were postponed rather than cancelled. Work on the order book continues.

t-online ↗

A property developer with schemes across the country. PANDION AG filed for self-administration at the Cologne insolvency court on 10 August 2026, together with five further group companies covering real estate, sales and project management. Months of restructuring had failed to stabilise liquidity and a financing component fell away unexpectedly; the immediate trigger was a €3.6m interest payment on a €45m bond it could not meet. Wages through October are covered by pre-financed insolvency benefit. A completed Munich office scheme let to Siemens is proceeding as planned, but the future of other sites, among them a large project at Asperg, is open.

echo24 ↗

An electrical installer and control systems builder of more than fifty years standing, which also makes machines and fixtures and supplies power systems for data centres, from sites at Steinebach an der Sieg and Leverkusen. It filed at Amtsgericht Betzdorf on 7 August 2026 and the court appointed Alexander Jüchser of LIESER as provisional administrator. Every part of the business keeps running and wages for around 70 staff are covered by insolvency benefit into September, with the company paying again from October. The stated cause is customers postponing orders again and again while the fixed costs stayed where they were.

INDat ↗

A butcher operating since 1993 and selling under the line "vom Stall in die Pfanne", with its own counters in 13 Kaufland and Netto stores in the region. Amtsgericht Neubrandenburg ordered preliminary self-administration on 7 August 2026 and appointed Michael Busching as Sachwalter. Production, deliveries and the counters continue, and the roughly 100 wages are covered by insolvency benefit for three months. The company blames weak consumer demand and industry-wide cost increases in meat, and is weighing an insolvency plan against bringing in an investor.

INDat ↗

The German arm of the Accell bicycle group, maker of Haibike, Winora and Ghost. Accell Germany filed at Amtsgericht Schweinfurt on 5 August 2026 together with Winora Staiger, Ghost-Bikes and Engelbert Wiener Bike Parts. Revenue was still above €340m in 2025. Wages are covered by insolvency benefit to the end of October and the plants keep running; the aim is an investor solution that separates the German business from the international group. The e-bike trade is working through the inventory glut it built up during the pandemic boom.

MaschinenMarkt ↗

A haulier built around fresh produce, running depots at Dresden, Mochau near Döbeln and Erfurt. Amtsgericht Dresden and Amtsgericht Chemnitz opened restructuring proceedings in self-administration over Baumann Spedition Dresden and Baumann Spedition Mochau on 3 August 2026, with Nils Freudenberg of Tiefenbacher as Sachwalter. All three sites carry on while an insolvency plan is drawn up. The company describes a broad customer base undone by the wider economy and by consolidation in food retail: three large customers went in the space of a few months, the lost revenue was not replaced by new orders, several routes could no longer be run at a profit and price rises could not be pushed through.

INDat ↗

The German arm of the Dutch delicatessen chain Oil & Vinegar, running 19 of its own shops from Cochem an der Mosel. It filed at Amtsgericht Cochem on 21 May 2026 after its Dutch parent Assisi BV in Oosterhout went under, and the administrator Jens Lieser spent three months looking for a buyer. When regular proceedings were opened on 3 August 2026 he began liquidating instead: all 19 shops closed, every lease was terminated and around 80 staff lost their jobs. Three shops run by independent franchisees were never part of the proceedings and stay open.

t-online ↗

An upholstered furniture supplier founded in 2011. Amtsgericht Oldenburg ordered preliminary administration on 3 August 2026 and appointed Christian Kaufmann of PLUTA. Sales fell short of plan and a liquidity gap followed, which the company puts down to continued consumer restraint in Germany. Business and production continue and wages are covered by insolvency benefit to the end of September. The Polish production company Oflor is in the proceedings as well, so about 270 jobs in total turn on the outcome.

retail-news ↗

A web offset printer of catalogues, magazines, mailings and advertising material, in business for 175 years. Amtsgericht Augsburg ordered preliminary administration on 30 March 2026 and appointed Georg Jakob Stemshorn of Pluta. No investor was found, the creditors committee approved an orderly closure, and production ran on only until the end of August 2026 to finish outstanding customer orders. The roughly 100 staff were given notice. The causes given are hard price competition, rising costs for energy, paper and logistics, and a bridging finance package that never came together.

Print.de ↗

A hospital of 71 beds at Bützow, south of Rostock, majority owned since 2024 by the care group Curiates with the town holding the rest. It went under a protective shield in May 2026 and Amtsgericht Rostock opened self-administration proceedings on 1 August, with Ulrike Hoge-Peters as Sachwalterin and Thomas Mulansky as general representative. All 191 staff stay and treatment goes on without interruption. The hospital gives the causes as years of financial strain and the federal hospital reform, which classes it as a Kleinstkrankenhaus and leaves the present structure unable to cover its costs, while the planned move to a cross-sector care model waits on federal financing rules. This is its second insolvency: the first, filed in July 2023, ended with a court-confirmed plan in January 2024.

Nordkurier ↗

A hospital for basic care with 132 planned beds, and not in insolvency for the first time. It filed at Amtsgericht Bingen on 6 May 2026 and the court opened proceedings over the hospital company and its two subsidiaries, HGH MVZ and HGH Service, on 1 August 2026, with Jens Lieser as administrator. Wages for around 300 staff continue to be paid once insolvency benefit runs out, at the subsidiaries too, and employees were briefed on 20 August. The hospital blames structural deficits in the health system: the hospital reform, federal budget cuts, services reimbursed below what they cost, IT investment it could not avoid and the expense of separating from its former group. The administrator, the city of Bingen and the Landkreis Mainz-Bingen have since agreed a financing concept to carry the site on as a Regioklinik from 1 September.

INDat ↗

A seller of maritime leisure and beachwear across Europe. Amtsgericht Düsseldorf opened self-administration for five group companies on 1 August 2026. The stores stay open while an investor is sought. The group blames conditions in bricks-and-mortar textile retail, which is the same sentence Herzog & Bräuer and Gerry Weber wrote before it.

Recht & Politik ↗

One of the larger non-food discounters in Germany. It filed at Amtsgericht Halle (Saale) in May 2026 and the court opened self-administration on 1 August, appointing Lucas Flöther as monitor. Around 50 of the 183 branches are expected to close, roughly one in three, though which ones will not be settled until the autumn. 66 staff had already gone since May.

t-online ↗

A bakery chain across Berlin and Brandenburg. Several branches were set to close on 1 August. One of more than sixty bakery insolvencies in the first half of 2026 alone. The trade is caught between energy and ingredient costs it cannot pass on and staff it cannot find.

t-online ↗

The home-decor chain, insolvent for the second time barely a year after finishing the first. The owner filed again for self-administration in May 2026; on 1 August 330 staff were released. They had July’s wages via insolvency benefit and nothing after that. Around 150 German branches are affected. The headcount here is the staff released on that date, not the whole chain.

t-online ↗

Tiles, building materials and natural stone, family-run since 1890. This is the second insolvency in under two years: the first was November 2024, creditors approved a plan in July 2025, and continuation was considered secure at the time. It was not. Wages for August through October are covered by pre-financed insolvency benefit while an investor is sought.

INDat ↗

Chocolate and pralines made in Hamburg-Hohenfelde since 1928. Small enough that it would normally never make a list like this, and included because it is the shape of the problem in miniature: raw material prices up, wage costs up, customers spending less. The shops stayed open.

t-online ↗

A wind and solar project developer, filed at Amtsgericht Tübingen on 14 July 2026 along with three subsidiaries, insolvent and over-indebted. Bond trading was suspended the same week. The wind trade is now going the way the solar trade went: Chinese manufacturers pricing below what German firms can match.

Anleihen Finder ↗

The hospital stopped operating on 7 July 2026. Since 2022, 85 German hospitals covering 102 sites have filed for insolvency; two in three are running at a loss, and the head of the German Hospital Federation has warned of a three-year wave. The date here is the closure, not the original filing.

gesundheitsmarkt.de ↗

Upholstered furniture, founded 1948. Filed for a protective shield on 26 June 2026 against weak demand and cheap imports; the upholstery trade saw revenue fall 13% year on year in January and February. June, July and August wages were covered by insolvency benefit.

WirtschaftsWoche ↗

A paper mill of about seventy years standing, making 95,000 tonnes a year of virgin-fibre folding boxboard for food, pharma and cosmetics packaging on roughly €80m of revenue. It cited persistently high energy costs and structural overcapacity across the European board industry, and Amtsgericht Rottweil appointed a preliminary administrator the day it filed. The investor process then collapsed: on 27 August the administrator said the buyer would not proceed, staff were told the site closes, and production stops after 7 September with a small crew kept on to wind the plant down. The closure reporting puts the workforce at around 220. The 210 here is the figure first reported in June, which is the convention this page follows.

Schwarzwälder Bote ↗

The DIY chain, 68 stores and an online shop, trading as Hellweg Die Profi-Bau- & Gartenmärkte. It filed for self-administration at Amtsgericht Essen on 17 June 2026, with Stefan Denkhaus as provisional Sachwalter and insolvency benefit covering three months of wages. The stores stayed open. The immediate trigger was the withdrawal of trade credit insurance, which tightened purchasing terms at a stroke; behind it lay higher purchase prices, higher rents and consumer restraint, with the slump in housebuilding taking the demand out of DIY. The 46 BayWa Bau- und Gartenmärkte, run by the same group and employing 1,300, filed alongside it.

hi heute ↗

44 branches across Thüringen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Sachsen, all of which stayed open through the preliminary proceedings ordered on 4 June.

t-online ↗

A praline and chocolate maker in Werl-Westönnen. Amtsgericht Arnsberg opened proceedings in self-administration on 21 May 2026. The second confectioner on this page in three months, for the same reason: cocoa and sugar prices that rose faster than anyone could pass on.

Sweets Global Network ↗

An automotive supplier, insolvent for the second time. The administrator points at the cost of the previous restructuring (site moves and closures) colliding with unexpected sales falls in late 2025 and early 2026. Metalworking and auto supply were the hardest-hit sectors of the half-year.

MaschinenMarkt ↗

An automotive plastics supplier across three sites. The plants at Leinburg-Diepersdorf and Lüdenscheid were kept; Oberlungwitz in Saxony was closed. 375 of roughly 730 staff were let go. The figure here is the redundancies, which is the number the reporting settled on.

t-online ↗

Automation and assembly systems. Filed in early March intending to restructure in self-administration and reposition strategically. No investor was found. Contracts were dissolved at the end of July and the business shuts completely by the end of October. The full arc from "sanieren" to "schließen" took eight months.

WLZ ↗

Excavators and construction machinery, a name in the trade for decades. Filed for self-administration on 6 February 2026 across the affected group companies.

bau.bi ↗

The largest insolvency of the year and one of the largest hotel failures Europe has seen. Roughly 140 group companies filed at once at Amtsgericht Charlottenburg on 16 January. The group ran about 250 hotels in twelve countries on €1.3bn of revenue: Hilton, Accor, Dorint and Wyndham franchises alongside its own Vagabond Club, Hyperion and Aedenlife brands. Insolvency benefit ran out at the end of March; the operating companies have paid wages out of trading since April. Investors have been found for about 25 hotels, and 450 staff have been made redundant as the group is broken up.

ZRI ↗

An Allgäu grocery institution and Edeka partner, carrying €200m of debt against long-running losses, heavy pension obligations and structural gaps in the branch network. Filed at Kempten on 22 December 2025; the news broke on 9 January. Branches and filling stations traded normally throughout. REWE Group plans to take roughly half the 72 branches plus a bakery.

Lebensmittel Zeitung ↗

Takeover talks failed and the hospital stopped operating on 28 November 2025. The date is the closure, not the filing.

gesundheitsmarkt.de ↗

One of Germany’s best-known office furniture makers, family-run since 1925, filed on 17 November 2025. Office furniture has been squeezed from both ends: companies shrinking their floorspace after home working, and a construction market that stopped fitting out new buildings.

Insolvenzkarte ↗

One of Germany’s leading lingerie retail chains, and insolvent for the second time. The first was 2020, which took it from 115 stores to 96. Amtsgericht Leipzig ordered restructuring in self-administration on 10 November 2025 and opened proceedings on 30 January 2026. Up to 15 stores face closure.

TextilWirtschaft ↗

A family bakery with its own shops plus in-store counters at REWE and Edeka. Amtsgericht Gifhorn ordered preliminary self-administration; wages went onto insolvency benefit while the 40 branches kept trading.

Lebensmittel Zeitung ↗

A Franconian furniture factory, filed 21 August 2025. One of a run of German furniture makers to go in 2025. The trade was hit by the same collapse in demand that took Himolla under a protective shield the following June.

Insolvenzkarte ↗

A designer furniture and interiors brand, insolvent in August 2025. Small, but the kind of name that had been treated as permanent.

Insolvenzkarte ↗

The Hammer home-textiles chain and the Schlau trade markets, filed in July 2025. On 2 October it was confirmed that around 70 of the 160 Hammer stores and all 60 Schlau stores would close, taking roughly 2,700 of 3,900 jobs, the second-largest single loss on this page.

Verbraucherzentrale Niedersachsen ↗

Solar cell manufacturing in Thalheim and PV development and machine-building in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, filed 1 June 2025. Module production in Freiberg had already closed in March 2024. The rescue failed and roughly 600 staff were let go in September 2025, leaving a small wind-down team. Cause: Chinese import pricing plus uncertainty over renewables subsidies, the same squeeze now working through the rest of the German solar trade.

pv magazine ↗

A bedroom furniture maker that had been insolvent since November 2023. Production stopped in May 2025 and the site was finally wound up over the summer, taking around 230 jobs. The date here is the shutdown, not the filing, which predates this page.

möbelfertigung ↗

An automotive machining supplier. Four German subsidiaries filed on 22 March 2025 after three major banks pulled their credit lines; Amtsgericht Hildesheim opened proceedings over three of them on 1 May. Production continued at all four plants. The founder’s summary of what happened to him: large corporations "killed us stone cold".

InsolvenzTracker ↗

The Red Cross hospital company for Rheinland-Pfalz, with hospitals in Alzey, Kirchen, Neuwied, Hachenburg and Altenkirchen plus medical care centres, treating more than 80,000 patients a year. Filed in December 2024; Amtsgericht Mainz ordered preliminary proceedings on 7 February 2025 and opened them on 1 March. The DRK withdrew from the hospital business entirely and the sites were handed to new operators one by one. Of the roughly 140 German insolvencies in 2025 involving more than 250 staff, nine were clinics or care providers.

ku-gesundheitsmanagement ↗

The third insolvency in six years: 2019 after the over-ambitious Hallhuber expansion, a StaRUG restructuring in 2023, then self-administration at Amtsgericht Bielefeld in March 2025. Over the course of 2025 the Halle head office was cleared out down to a wind-down crew, and the brand largely withdrew from German retail.

retail-news ↗

The mattress retailer behind the Matratzen Concord and MFO stores, insolvent in March 2025. All 97 shops and the online business were shut by the end of the year, taking about 300 jobs. A chain that once ran more than a thousand branches in Germany.

t-online ↗

The electric air-taxi company, insolvent for the second time in three months in late February 2025 after the rescue financing fell through. Germany’s most expensive lesson in the gap between a funding round and a business.

Technik + Einkauf ↗