Germany bites the dust

The Magdeburg supplier of cylinder heads for combustion engines entered preliminary insolvency proceedings on 14 October 2026. Around 120 employees are affected and wage prefinancing was being examined while the administrator reviewed stabilisation options. Reporting says the main trigger was the loss of Porsche as its most important customer, with those orders ending by late September.

t-online ↗

The Detmold manufacturer of flooring and acoustic solutions entered a protective-shield process at Amtsgericht Detmold on 9 October 2026. Operations continue and wages for around 280 staff are secured for now. The company says revenue dropped sharply over the previous three months because demand, especially in the retail flooring segment, fell dramatically during the construction-sector downturn after more than two years of restructuring.

BTH Heimtex ↗

The Nürnberg property developer filed for insolvency because of impending illiquidity. Amtsgericht Nürnberg ordered preliminary administration on 5 October 2026 and appointed Jochen Zaremba as preliminary administrator. Work stopped across the company's active building sites, affecting around 90 employees as well as buyers and contractors.

nordbayern.de ↗

Germany’s last large department-store chain, operating 83 stores after three earlier insolvencies since 2020. Galeria applied at Amtsgericht Düsseldorf on 2 October 2026 to open another insolvency procedure, its fourth in six years, while all stores continue trading for now. Around 12,000 staff are affected. The company itself did not give a specific cause when announcing the filing; reporting immediately before it described another acute liquidity squeeze after a financing line of up to 160 million euros agreed in June, with 33 stores already under review as part of the restructuring.

t-online ↗

The Leipzig solar, storage and heat-pump provider filed at Amtsgericht Leipzig on 2 October 2026. The business initially continued and wages for the 340 staff were covered by insolvency benefit. Owner Pemberton stopped further financing after an operational restructuring failed to overcome the sustained decline in Germany's private residential photovoltaic market.

t-online ↗

The Mannheim brewery, founded in 1679, brewed its last beer and stopped production on 30 September 2026 during an insolvency process that had begun in 2025. The remaining operating business is being wound down by year end, with 181 jobs affected and a 31-person team retained for the wind-down. Reporting gives falling domestic and export sales and the resulting liquidity shortage as the causes.

dpa / Welt ↗

A Düsseldorf developer of office and prime retail property. Amtsgericht Düsseldorf opened proceedings on 29 September 2026 and appointed Axel Kleinschmidt of Kleinschmidt & Collegen, and the business stopped at the opening and is being wound up; 37 of the 52 staff had found other work by then. The administrator says every option for carrying the business on was examined and none could be financed: criminal investigations against the founder became public in March 2026, business partners withdrew, and the company could raise neither financing nor new projects. It was the second insolvency at CENTRUM in under three years.

INDat ↗

A Braunschweig brewery founded in 1627, brewing beer and soft drinks under the Wolters name and one of the oldest houses in Niedersachsen. It filed in self-administration on 19 June 2026 and Amtsgericht Braunschweig opened proceedings on 1 September. No investor was found for the production site, so the roughly 90 staff were told on 29 September that brewing in Braunschweig stops on 31 December 2026, just short of the brewery’s 400th year. Management gives the causes as a structural decline in sales on the German beer market, where volumes reached a historic low in 2025, and rising production and energy costs. A buyer for the Wolters brand itself is still being sought.

regionalheute ↗

The family-owned fashion retailer from Biberach, founded in 1864 and operating 14 stores at seven locations, applied for insolvency at Amtsgericht Ravensburg. The court ordered preliminary measures and appointed Michael Winterhoff on 29 September 2026. All stores remain open for now. The company cites the after-effects of pandemic closures, lower footfall in city centres, persistent consumer restraint and sharply higher costs.

BILD ↗

A hospital of about 100 beds in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt treating some 14,000 patients a year. St. Elisabeth-Krankenhaus Salzgitter gGmbH filed on 26 February 2026 and proceedings in self-administration opened on 1 May. Investors looked at it over the summer and none made a binding offer, so the staff were told at an extraordinary works meeting on 28 September that the hospital closes on 30 September. The operator gives the causes as rising operating costs against a refinancing that no longer covered them, a substantial investment backlog, and the uncertainty the hospital reform leaves over future service planning, which made the risk hard for any buyer to price.

t-online ↗

An aluminium foundry in the Harz casting gearbox, chassis and body parts for premium carmakers, majority owned since 2018 by the Chinese supplier Bohai Automotive Systems. The four group companies filed at Amtsgericht Halle (Saale) on 17 April 2025 with 678 staff, 580 at Harzgerode and 98 at Sömmerda in Thüringen, and Olaf Spiekermann of Brinkmann & Partner took the case; proceedings opened on 3 July 2025 and production ran on at both sites. Eighteen months of searching produced neither an investor nor the orders to fill the plant, and the last bidder withdrew after long negotiations, so the roughly 550 staff left were told at a works meeting on Monday 28 September 2026 that Harzgerode stops at the end of January 2027. The administrator gives the cause as the missing future orders: the plant was loss-making and kept running on support in the millions from its main customers, Volkswagen above all. Schlote, which machines the castings on the same site and is in its own proceedings, closes its Harzgerode and Wernigerode plants with it, about 180 jobs, taking the total in the Harz to around 730.

t-online ↗

A Herford glassworks cutting glass and mirror parts for furniture makers and shopfitters, founded in 1909 and run by the fourth generation of the family. Amtsgericht Bielefeld ordered preliminary administration on 27 September 2026 and appointed André Wehner of PLUTA, whose team is pre-financing insolvency money so the 36 staff are paid as usual to the end of November. The works keep running while an investor is sought. The administrator gives the cause as a liquidity shortfall built up by the weak economy, customers holding back on investment and rising energy costs.

PLUTA ↗

A womenswear wholesaler at Willich in the Kreis Viersen, developing and distributing the denim label Blue Fire Co. in the affordable premium segment. Management filed for self-administration at Amtsgericht Krefeld, reported on 24 September 2026, with Frank Schwarzer of AndresPartner as preliminary trustee and Markus Küthe of Heidemann Küthe as general representative running the restructuring. The 25 staff stay and the autumn and winter 2026/27 collection ships as planned, with reorders still possible from stock, but the spring and summer 2027 collection already ordered will not be delivered and the label is to relaunch in 2027. The company gives the cause as structural change in the fashion trade: subdued consumer sentiment, higher costs, and share moving to large platforms, vertically integrated brands and international fast-fashion retailers.

INDat ↗

Amtsgericht Pinneberg ordered preliminary insolvency administration on 24 September 2026 over the Elmshorn bakery chain, which kept operating through its 12 branches while an investor search began. The company reported 66 employees. Management cited the simultaneous loss of two larger customers, sharply higher energy and goods costs, the higher minimum wage from January 2026 and high sickness levels.

REIMER ↗

An elderly care foundation at Albstadt in the Zollernalbkreis, part of Diakonie Württemberg, running the Augustenhilfe care home in Ebingen and a second home in the Seniorenzentrum Albstadt Tailfingen. Amtsgericht Hechingen ordered preliminary self-administration on 23 September 2026 and appointed Thorsten Schleich of Schleich & Partner as preliminary trustee. Pay for the 244 staff is covered by pre-financed insolvency benefit for October, November and December 2026, and care at all three sites carries on without restriction. The foundation gives the cause as losses on the first phase of a replacement building in Albstadt, whose costs were not covered, together with the personnel it was holding for the second phase and the general cost position in the care sector.

Schwäbische Zeitung ↗

A family firm at Luhe-Wildenau in the Oberpfalz, started as a joinery in 1950 and making windows, exterior doors, winter gardens and related building components in wood, aluminium and plastic. Amtsgericht Weiden i.d. Oberpfalz ordered preliminary administration over Höhbauer GmbH on 22 September 2026 and appointed Volker Böhm of Schultze & Braun. Reporting gives the headcount as 325, with some accounts rounding it to about 330, and wages are covered by insolvency benefit through November 2026. Production and deliveries carry on while the administrator examines restructuring options. The company gives the cause as higher energy, material and personnel costs together with higher interest rates, which cut demand for new building and renovation far enough that the financing no longer carried.

Presse.Online ↗

A family bakery at Balve in the Sauerland, in its sixty-first year, running the bakehouse on Hauptstraße together with eight sales outlets, an ice cream parlour and a mobile sales van. Amtsgericht Arnsberg opened the preliminary procedure over the assets of the owner, Rainer Tillmann, on Monday 21 September 2026 and appointed Dr. Jan Janßen of Cologne as preliminary insolvency administrator to examine the books. Baking, the shops and the van carry on for now, and pay for the 105 staff is covered for three months while the court decides whether to open proceedings. The owner gives the causes as the weak economy, roadworks around several branches that kept customers away, higher staff and fuel costs, the raised minimum wage, bureaucratic load, and price competition from the food discounters, a mixture that built up over about eighteen months. He describes the filing as an instrument for restructuring rather than a step towards closure.

Pleiteticker ↗

An aluminium die casting works at Schwäbisch Gmünd, family run since 1951, making cast parts largely for the automotive supply industry, with about 110.9 million euros of revenue in 2025 across three sites. Julius Schüle Druckguss GmbH applied at Amtsgericht Aalen to open proceedings in self-administration, and the court ordered the protective shield on 18 September 2026, with Martin Mucha of the Stuttgart firm Grub Brugger acting as general representative for the duration. The 152 staff at the Schwäbisch Gmünd head office are the ones affected: the subsidiaries in Poland and Slovakia did not file and stay outside the proceedings. Wages are covered by insolvency benefit until the end of November. The company gives the causes as competitive pressure from suppliers in low-wage countries, overcapacity in the market, and falling volumes and margins in the automotive business, and reported losses of 4.8 million euros in 2023 and 9.6 million in 2024. An investor is being sought.

t-online ↗

A hotel and restaurant business at Dermbach in the Rhön, run out of a timber-frame building of 1623 under monument protection: the SaxenHof boutique hotel with 27 rooms and five apartments, the WohnZimmer restaurant, the EdenSpa wellness area and BjoernsOx, the Michelin-starred restaurant of chef Björn Leist. Amtsgericht Meiningen ordered preliminary administration over Rhöner Botschaft GmbH on 16 September 2026 under file number 1 IN 200/26 and appointed Jakob Schwarz of Gotha. The 28 staff have their wages covered by insolvency benefit and the hotel, the restaurants and the spa carry on without restriction, though vouchers bought earlier cannot be redeemed for now. Management gives the cause as the after-effects of the pandemic and the energy crisis, sharply higher energy, food and operating costs, and subdued consumer spending.

Verbraucherschutzforum ↗

A machinery builder at Rotenburg an der Fulda in eastern Hessen. Mundinger Engineering GmbH filed over payment difficulties and Amtsgericht Bad Hersfeld ordered preliminary administration on 16 September 2026, appointing Jutta Rüdlin of PLUTA as preliminary administrator. The 18 staff have their wages covered by insolvency benefit for three months, and the business carries on while the existing order book is worked through and restructuring options are examined. Management gives the cause as orders that did not arrive: several projects the company had counted on went elsewhere or are still undecided.

INDat ↗

A solar company at Bad Königshofen im Grabfeld in Lower Franconia, building photovoltaic systems for private and commercial customers. BSH GmbH & Co. KG filed at Amtsgericht Schweinfurt on 15 September 2026 for over-indebtedness and impending insolvency, and the court ordered preliminary administration the next day and appointed Dr. Alexander Zarzitzky. Wages for the roughly 80 remaining staff are covered by insolvency benefit and the business carries on while a buyer is sought. The company gives the causes as demand in the private customer segment falling away from 2024, a restructuring programme run in 2025 that did not take hold, and receivables lost when subsidiary companies became insolvent, which weakened the balance sheet. The preliminary administrator notes that the solar industry as a whole is in a difficult market.

INDat ↗

A bakery in the Landkreis Fürth that has been baking since 1763, running its Seukendorf home shop and three more in Fürth. The company filed at the start of September 2026 and Amtsgericht Fürth ordered preliminary administration over Bäckerei Gräf Betriebs GmbH on 15 September, appointing Michael Wirth of Nuremberg, with 41 staff. The court order gives no reason; the reporting puts the slide down to rising costs and to a falling-out between the two managing directors who took the business over from the family in October 2025, each of whom wants to carry on without the other. The administrator is running the shops until the end of October while he looks for a buyer, with the aim of keeping every job.

inFranken.de ↗

A maker of home battery storage systems and hybrid inverters at Konstanz, founded in 2015. Amtsgericht Konstanz ordered preliminary administration over RCT Power GmbH on 14 September 2026 and appointed Jan Markus Plathner of Brinkmann & Partner, on grounds of illiquidity and over-indebtedness, after managing director Pei-Fen Hsiso, in post since November 2025, filed. Christoph Enkler of the same firm puts the number affected at 26; a separate account gives 60 across Germany. Wages are covered by insolvency benefit and a search for an investor has started. The reporting records device replacements and repairs left unprocessed and a distribution contract with Enerix terminated over unpaid invoices. It is the second German storage maker in trouble in the same stretch, after Varta Storage.

Photon ↗

A commercial vehicle body builder at Biberach an der Riß whose origins go back to 1868 and the building of horse carriages, and which made bus bodies and caravans before settling on driver cabs, bodies and trailers for utility vehicles. Karosseriefabrik Biberach GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Ravensburg on 10 September 2026 over impending insolvency, under file number 111 IN 653/26, and the court ordered protective measures the same day and appointed Michael Winterhoff of Ulm as preliminary administrator. The roughly 30 staff at the Freiburger Straße works carry on and the order book is being worked through, the aim being to keep the company going. Managing director Frank Denz gives the cause as the general economic situation: the industrial downturn and the pressure it has put on the sector did not pass the company by.

Schwäbische Zeitung ↗

The exclusive importer of Cuban cigars for Germany, Austria and Poland, at Waldshut-Tiengen on the Hochrhein, set up in 1989 as a joint venture with the Cuban state company Habanos S.A. and supplying 27 brands, among them Cohiba, Montecristo and Bolívar, to around 200 retailers in Germany. Management filed on 8 September 2026 and Amtsgericht Waldshut-Tiengen ordered preliminary administration the next day, appointing André Berbuer of BSK Berbuer Speier Kuhn in Freiburg. The 49 staff stay and managing director Christoph Puszkar keeps running the business, with larger financial decisions needing the administrator’s consent. The cause given is not trading: EU sanctions against an alleged crime boss from Cambodia froze the company’s bank accounts.

Die Tabakzeitung ↗

A mid-sized steel trader and steel processor at Tholey in the Saarland, cutting and finishing material for industrial customers. Amtsgericht Saarbrücken ordered preliminary self-administration on 9 September 2026, so management stays in office and runs the restructuring itself under the supervision of a trustee. Pay for the roughly 130 staff is covered by insolvency benefit for September, October and November, and the business carries on meanwhile. The company gives the cause as the general economic situation and higher production and material costs: cost savings and new business over the previous months had not made operations profitable again, and a financial reorganisation became necessary.

INDat ↗

A family-owned automotive supplier founded in Wickede an der Ruhr in 1896, making precision steel tubes and finished assemblies that go into roughly 20,000 vehicles a day, and the core of the Prinz-Mayweg group. Amtsgericht Essen published its order on 9 September 2026 opening preliminary proceedings over Prinz & Co. GmbH Stahlrohre and appointing Dr. Christian Holzmann of Essen as preliminary administrator. The 310 staff are split across four sites: about 150 at Altena, about 110 at the Wickede headquarters, 30 at Werl-Westönnen and 20 at Werl. Production carries on unrestricted at all four for now and wages are covered by pre-financed insolvency benefit, while the group looks for a restructuring solution for Prinz-Mayweg as a whole. The administrator gave the cause as liquidity problems: raw material and energy prices rose and fixed costs stayed high, and falling revenue over the summer could not carry them.

Soester Anzeiger ↗

The construction arm of the Enerparc group, building the solar parks and, more recently, the battery storage its sister company develops. pvwerk GmbH applied for restructuring in self-administration and Amtsgericht Hamburg ordered preliminary self-administration on 7 September 2026, the same day it ordered preliminary administration over Enerparc AG. Bernd Richter of PLUTA is Generalbevollmächtigter and Tjark Thies of REIMER was appointed preliminary Sachwalter. Management stays in office, the roughly 60 staff are covered by insolvency benefit to about November 2026, and the stated aim is to finish the roughly 100 solar and storage projects under construction and then run an investor process. The cause given is the insolvency of the sister company rather than anything in the order book at pvwerk.

INDat ↗

A listed automotive supplier at Delbrück near Paderborn making sensors, cockpit electronics and acoustics for carmakers. paragon GmbH & Co. KGaA and the subsidiaries paragon electronic GmbH and paragon movasys GmbH filed for insolvency at Amtsgericht Paderborn on 7 September 2026 for inability to pay, with 552 staff at six German sites affected, more than 250 of them at Suhl in Thüringen. The company says a planned financing transaction failed: the Indian investor Tejascore Techsystems did not pay over 12 million euros it had committed, despite repeated demands, leaving paragon unable to meet supplier obligations.

Anleihen Finder ↗

One of the largest independent solar park developers and owners in Europe, with about 5.5 gigawatts installed, roughly 3.8 of them on the grid, and more than 500 solar parks. Enerparc AG applied to open insolvency proceedings and Amtsgericht Hamburg ordered preliminary administration on 7 September 2026 under 67b IN 225/26, appointing Stefan Denkhaus of BRL. The filing covers the parent company alone, not the subsidiaries or the project companies, trading carries on and pay for the roughly 380 staff employed directly by the AG in Hamburg is covered by insolvency benefit for three months. The court notice gave no reasons. The filing came only months after a financing package announced in spring 2026: a junior loan of 500 million euros alongside a project financing framework of 425 million euros, extendable to 500 million, for building out solar plants and battery storage.

pv magazine ↗

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 ↗

A family-owned board maker near Schwäbisch Hall whose main mill dates from 1878 and whose site goes back to a water mill on the Kocher around 1600. It makes solid board, greyboard and carton for packaging, board games and jigsaw puzzles. Both production companies filed: Karl Kurz GmbH & Co. KG in Rosengarten-Tullau in Baden-Württemberg and Pappenfabrik Trauchgau GmbH & Co. KG in Halblech in Bayern, where it has produced for close to thirty years. Amtsgericht Heilbronn ordered preliminary proceedings over both on 3 September 2026 and appointed Tibor Braun of IKB in Stuttgart. Both plants keep running in full, wages for the roughly 100 staff are covered by insolvency benefit to the end of October, and an investor search is under way. The causes given are energy, raw material and staff costs that rose sharply against weak demand, with price rises only partly passable because customers answered them by ordering less.

BILD ↗

A family bakery at Lupburg in the Oberpfalz, in its fifth generation, selling through six shops across the Neumarkt and Regensburg districts. Amtsgericht Nürnberg ordered preliminary administration over Bäckerei Maier GmbH on 3 September 2026 and appointed Patrick Meyerle of PLUTA. All six shops keep their normal opening hours, and pay for the roughly 50 staff is covered by insolvency benefit for three months while the administrator runs an investor search over the coming weeks to try to keep the bakeries open. The company gives the causes as sharply higher costs for energy, raw materials and operating supplies set against falling sales, with customers holding back on spending.

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 Friedrichshafen haulier and contract logistics group in its 78th year, run as two legally separate companies: Kögl Logistik GmbH & Co. KG for the forwarding business and PRO-Logistik KÖGL GmbH for warehousing and transport services. Both filed in June 2026 and Amtsgericht Ravensburg opened regular proceedings over each on 1 September 2026 for inability to pay, under 40 IN 421/26 with Dietmar Rock as administrator and 40 IN 422/26 with Wolfgang Müller. The two employed about 24 people between them at the time of the application. The administrators give the cause as a weak and restrained order situation across logistics from the start of 2026 set against high fixed costs. An attempt to find an investor or another restructuring route outside insolvency had already failed.

ms aktuell ↗

A custom software house in Darmstadt, spun out of the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology in 2009. cosee GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Darmstadt over liquidity difficulties, the court ordered preliminary administration on 2 June 2026 and appointed Philip Konen of PLUTA, and proceedings were opened on 1 September 2026 with Konen as administrator. The business ran on in full throughout. On the same day the newly formed cosee a haeger company GmbH took over operations in an asset deal along with all 21 staff, the buyer behind it being Haeger Consulting of Bonn.

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 wholesaler of organic and natural food at Erfurt-Gispersleben, supplying bio shops, farm shops, delivery services and restaurants in Thüringen, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and northern Bayern for more than two decades. Managing director Thomas Hölscher applied to Amtsgericht Erfurt for restructuring in self-administration, and the court had granted the application by 4 September 2026, when the company made the proceedings public. No source gives the day of the filing, so the row carries month precision. André Rombach of Kanzlei Rombach is provisional Sachwalter. Both logistics centres, at Erfurt and at Schkeuditz near Leipzig, keep delivering and wages for the roughly 65 staff are covered to the end of November. The company gives the causes as costs rising while revenue fell, fuel above all for a distributor covering four states, and customers buying less organic food because it costs more than conventional groceries.

INDat ↗

An Augsburg car dealer founded in 1926, selling Opel and Jeep cars and Crosscamp campervans and run by Gabriele Brunnhuber. Franz Brunnhuber Automobile GmbH & Co. KG applied to Amtsgericht Augsburg on 26 August 2026 to open proceedings in self-administration, and the court ordered preliminary self-administration on 1 September 2026, appointing Constantin Graf Salm-Hoogstraeten as provisional Sachwalter. Sales, workshop, servicing and parts carry on and the 54 staff stay in place. The company gives the cause as the vehicles coming back off old leasing contracts: the prices those cars now fetch fall short of the buyback values it had calculated, which ties up capital it needs elsewhere.

INDat ↗

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 ↗

A toolmaker at Delligsen in the Holzminden district, building moulds and milled parts for industrial customers. Amtsgericht Holzminden ordered preliminary administration on 12 May 2026 and opened proceedings on 1 August, with the BBL firm running the case and an investor search started straight away. Around 360 possible buyers were approached and concrete talks were held with two of them, but no offer came that reflected the value of the company or gave the staff a future, so on 1 September the decision was taken to stop. The last 51 employees were given notice at the end of August and 18 stay on to finish the remaining large orders until 30 September. The cause was a liquidity gap: capacity utilisation was weak through the winter months, revenue fell with it and payments came in late.

INDat ↗

A toolmaker in Augsburg making and servicing cutting and gear tools for the metal, wood, plastics and paper industries. Grabmeier GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Augsburg on 14 July 2026 and the court appointed Constantin Graf Salm-Hoogstraeten of BBL Brockdorff as preliminary administrator the same day, then opened proceedings on 1 September 2026 for insolvency and over-indebtedness. No buyer was found: five interested parties were given detailed information and a concrete offer was hoped for from one of them that never came, and two employees who wanted to take the company over could not raise the financing inside the statutory period. The 19 staff work the production run to 30 September, six of them staying on to deliver the remaining orders until 10 October, after which all are released. The company gives the causes as energy costs well up over recent years, a persistently difficult supply position for carbide materials, higher wage costs and a shortage of skilled workers it found increasingly hard to recruit and keep. Revenue in the last business year was €1.5m.

B4B Schwaben ↗

The operator of DinoXperience, a dinosaur exhibition that opened in the former Sea Life building in Königswinter in March 2026. Edutain AG, registered in Köln, filed at Amtsgericht Bonn at the end of August and the court made its order on 31 August 2026 under file number 97 IN 149/26, about six months after the attraction opened. The exhibition stays open and tickets are still sold, and the 55 staff are on insolvency money from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit for three months while it is examined whether the business can carry on and an investor can be found. The provisional administrator gives the cause as several projects that ran late or were never finished.

t-online ↗

The Hamburg company behind the premium pet food brand Dogs’n Tiger, which sells dog and cat food through grocery chains and its own shop and took on the designer Guido Maria Kretschmer as brand ambassador in July 2025. Amtsgericht Hamburg ordered preliminary administration over The Dude Food Company GmbH on 31 August 2026 and appointed Dr. Dietmar Penzlin of Hamburg. The company had 16 staff when it filed. The administrator gives the cause as several consecutive years of losses running into the millions: the business was still in its start-up phase and had been carried by a string of investors rather than by its own trading.

ms aktuell ↗

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 paper mill in the Hardenburg part of Bad Dürkheim making graphic specialty papers, in business since 1737 and taken over by the Lenk-Gruppe five years ago. Schleipen Paper GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Baden-Baden on 24 June 2026, proceedings were opened on 26 August and production stopped at the end of the month, with all 73 staff affected and no buyer found. The administrator gives the cause as a lasting shortage of orders against rising energy costs, which left the mill running well below capacity and uncompetitive internationally, and names inflexible labour law alongside the shortage of skilled workers and weak infrastructure as the wider problems.

t-online ↗

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 family bakery founded in 2003 at Stuvenborn in the Segeberg district, running a production site and nine branches and cafés across Schleswig-Holstein, Neumünster and Hamburg. Amtsgericht Norderstedt ordered preliminary administration on 24 August 2026 and appointed Thilo Streck, with wages for the almost 100 staff covered by insolvency benefit for August, September and October. The bakery and the shops carry on and no notices were given at the outset, and the administrator rates the chances of a rescue as good. The causes given are customers spending less, energy and raw material prices that rose sharply after the start of the war in Ukraine, flour among them, and competition from bakery counters in supermarkets and discounters.

Allgemeine BäckerZeitung ↗

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 ↗

An IT services house at Essingen in the Ostalbkreis, running its own data centre for its customers. Amtsgericht Aalen appointed Leonie Franke preliminary administrator on 7 August 2026, with six staff. The order book was not the problem: the administrator gives the cause as higher costs for goods and for the electricity the data centre draws, which the company could not pass on to customers at a price that covered them, against falling revenue. Operations carry on unchanged, pay is covered by insolvency benefit from August to October, and no job cuts are planned: the company was still hiring when the order came.

Schwäbische Zeitung ↗

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 bag and rucksack maker on the Möwenburgstraße in Schwerin, sewing outdoor rucksacks and bicycle bags in Germany since 2012. Amtsgericht Schwerin opened proceedings over Red Rebane GmbH on 1 August 2026 under 580 IN 380/26 for inability to pay and appointed Mathias Gellert as administrator. Production has stopped and the four remaining staff lost their jobs, down from more than ten. The founders name material, energy and labour costs plus the shortage of skilled workers, loans taken out to make cloth masks during the pandemic that became unsellable once FFP2 rules came in and are now falling due, and copies of their products sold at much lower prices. The Easy EXO luggage rack extension and a new boat cover business are to carry on.

MS Aktuell ↗

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 ↗

A family bakery at Siegersdorf in the Schnaittach market town, started in 1935 and run to the third generation. Amtsgericht Nürnberg opened proceedings over Siegersdorfer Landbrot Traditionsbäckerei Teichmann GmbH on 31 July 2026 for inability to pay and over-indebtedness, appointing Alexander Raab of Fürth as administrator, and baking has since stopped for good. Twelve people worked there at the end, several of whom had found work at other bakeries by the time the administrator confirmed the closure. He gives the cause as changed buying habits: at this size the shop could not match what the large bakery chains can do on price.

inFranken ↗

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 ↗

The operator of the former potash mine at Teutschenthal in the Saalekreis, which is backfilled with hazardous waste as part of securing the workings for the long term. GTS Grube Teutschenthal Sicherungs GmbH & Co. KG applied to open insolvency proceedings on 30 July 2026 and Amtsgericht Halle (Saale) appointed Lucas Flöther as preliminary administrator, with pay for the roughly 90 staff covered by insolvency benefit for three months. The company says the cost of securing the mine has risen far beyond what the earlier geological forecasts assumed, and that talks with the state of Sachsen-Anhalt produced no financing agreement. If GTS fails the state takes on the securing and closure, which its economics ministry has previously put at up to 130 million euros.

Du bist Halle ↗

A family firm founded at Hermersberg in the Südwestpfalz in 1996, doing demanding plastic injection moulding and specialising in one and two component work for the automotive industry. It applied to Amtsgericht Pirmasens for self-administration on 27 July 2026, and the court appointed Matthias Bayer of Abel und Kollegen in St. Ingbert as provisional trustee. The roughly 60 staff were told at a works meeting; their pay was covered by insolvency benefit for July, August and September and came out of ordinary trading again from October. Production continues without interruption and financing for the following months is in place, with the stated aim of restoring competitiveness and keeping the Hermersberg site.

INDat ↗

A plastics processor at Struthütten in Neunkirchen in the Siegerland, founded in 1950, making technical plastic parts for carmakers, electronics and household appliances. Karl Hess GmbH & Co. KG filed at Amtsgericht Siegen on 24 July 2026 and the court appointed Nikolaos Antoniadis as preliminary administrator on 27 July. Production and deliveries carry on and wages for the 290 staff at Struthütten are covered by insolvency benefit. The Czech subsidiary Hess Pilsen Injection, with 250 of the group total of 550, is not in the proceedings. The cause given is the collapse in demand from the car industry, which accounts for about three quarters of turnover.

Siegener Zeitung ↗

The battery maker at Ellwangen on the Ostalb, known for hearing aid cells, lithium round cells and home storage. Four companies filed for insolvency in self-administration at Amtsgericht Stuttgart on 24 July 2026: VARTA AG, VARTA Microbattery at Ellwangen, and VARTA Micro Production and VARTA Storage at Nördlingen. Only VARTA Consumer Batteries, the household battery and power bank business, stayed out. The group employs about 3,260 people, most of them at Ellwangen, and closure of Nördlingen with its roughly 350 jobs was already under consideration for the autumn. The company gives the cause as worse market conditions, weaker demand and adverse currency effects, on top of the decision by its large customer Apple to stop taking CoinPower cells, which together opened a structural financing gap at parent level from 2027. On 11 September 2026 Amtsgericht Stuttgart tightened the measures over all four companies, imposing a general prohibition on disposal and appointing Tobias Wahl as preliminary administrator, which ends the self-administration.

Schwäbische Zeitung ↗

An aluminium works on the Upper Rhine at Rheinfelden, casting alloys and drawing semi-finished products. Aluminium Rheinfelden Alloys GmbH and Aluminium Rheinfelden Semis GmbH applied to open proceedings in self-administration on 16 July 2026, and the group then decided to stop aluminium processing for good, which costs about 185 jobs. Rheinfelden Carbon Products, with roughly 50 staff, is not part of the filing and carries on unchanged. The causes given are sharply higher energy prices, weak demand and international competitive pressure, which together left the processing business unable to cover its costs.

Unternehmeredition ↗

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 care home in the Neuenkirchen district of Melle in the Landkreis Osnabrück, founded as a Lazarus hospital in 1902 and run as a non-profit gGmbH with about 70 beds. Amtsgericht Osnabrück ordered preliminary insolvency administration over the assets of Ev. Altenzentrum Neuenkirchen gGmbH on 14 July 2026 and appointed Dr. Ria Brüninghoff of PLUTA as preliminary administrator, who kept the home running without restriction. The company gives the cause as liquidity problems, with the general rise in costs and the wider economic conditions straining the finances. A purchase contract was notarised on 23 September 2026: Lebenswelten Holding, whose shareholders are prop Projekte Partner GmbH and the Zentrum für Sozialimmobilien, takes over the home and the property with effect from 1 October 2026, and all 73 staff still under contract move across with it.

PLUTA ↗

A non-food discounter selling household goods from 150 branches, with its headquarters at Oberhausen. KODi Handels GmbH applied to Amtsgericht Halle (Saale) on 14 July 2026 for proceedings in self-administration and the court ordered preliminary self-administration, appointing Lucas Flöther as provisional Sachwalter with AndresPartner advising. Management stays in charge, the branches keep trading and wages for the 1,200 staff, 72 of them at the service centre and 36 in logistics, were covered by insolvency benefit for July, August and September. About 50 branches are expected to close: 19 closures, all in Nordrhein-Westfalen, were confirmed in early September, 69 branches are safe and 56 are still being negotiated, with notices to follow the opening of proceedings expected in early October. The company blames weak consumer sentiment, competition from digital sellers, high energy costs, rising labour costs and high rents. Mäc Geiz, further down this list, is its sister company and is being restructured separately.

INDat ↗

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 ↗

An iron foundry at Schwäbisch Gmünd in the Ostalbkreis, casting parts for machinery and vehicle customers. Amtsgericht Aalen ordered preliminary self-administration on 8 July 2026, so management stays in office and runs the restructuring under supervision. Production carries on unrestricted and pay for the roughly 80 staff is covered by insolvency benefit for three months. It is the second insolvency in five years: the company went through restructuring in 2021, was taken over by the manager Ralf Brinschwitz in 2023 and renamed Eurotech Guss Schwäbisch Gmünd. The stated cause is the run of difficult economic conditions, with customers in important sectors holding back on investment while costs rose, so capacity utilisation fell away.

INDat ↗

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 ↗

A machinery builder at Quickborn in Kreis Pinneberg, founded in 1973, making automated warehouse systems, filling lines, palletisers and conveyors for industry. SMB International GmbH applied to Amtsgericht Pinneberg to open proceedings in self-administration and announced the step on 7 July 2026, with Katharina Hansen and Matthias Wolgast of Münzel & Böhm acting as Generalbevollmächtigte and Jennie Best of Reimer Rechtsanwälte appointed provisional Sachwalter. The roughly 160 staff keep working while an investor process runs. The company gives the cause as three large projects that turned unprofitable when market conditions changed and supplies ran short, which drained its liquidity.

LOGISTIK HEUTE ↗

A textile finisher founded in Aschaffenburg in 1990, embroidering, sewing and printing workwear for names including Hakro, Jako, Seidensticker and Olymp, with 60 staff. A cyberattack at the end of March 2026 stopped production for close to six weeks, and the company filed in early July: Amtsgericht Aschaffenburg appointed Maximilian Maierhofer of Ohly Zöller preliminary administrator. The reporting gives only the month of the filing. The administrator released the business to carry on trading on 14 July and is looking for an investor to keep the jobs and the customer contracts.

Security-Insider ↗

A metal and plastics processor founded at Wasserburg am Inn in 1964 by Wilhelm Gronbach, making ventilation technology, surface finishing, appliance parts and kinematics, much of it for kitchen furniture makers. The company filed in April 2026 and Amtsgericht Rosenheim opened proceedings in self-administration over GWSPA Produktion GmbH on 1 July 2026, with Volker Böhm of Schultze & Braun as trustee and Markus Fauser and Johannes Chrocziel of Anchor as restructuring managers. About 180 people work at Wasserburg, out of roughly 700 across the group. Production there continues unchanged while a structured investor process runs. The company gives the cause as the economic slowdown since the end of 2022, inflation and geopolitical uncertainty leaving end customers unwilling to buy kitchens, major customers pulling key products in the fourth quarter of 2025, and procurement and wage costs that competitive pressure made impossible to pass on.

INDat ↗

A Leipzig software house making IT asset and lifecycle management tools, with around 600 customers on its products. Deskcenter AG filed at Amtsgericht Leipzig on 26 June 2026 and Dr. Stephan Thiemann of Pluta was appointed preliminary administrator, with 48 staff. The company gave the cause as sharply higher costs and a generally restrained willingness to invest in software: a financing round it had been working on did not come through. Operations first carried on as normal, but the investor talks the administrator called very promising failed when the bank financing behind them fell away, and the business stopped at the start of August 2026. On 21 August mosaic IT bought the software, source code, brand and domains out of the estate.

ChannelPartner ↗

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 charitable operator of the Marienhospital Stuttgart, a hospital of some 800 beds, together with the Vinzenz Klinik and Vinzenz Therme at Bad Ditzenbach and the Luise von Marillac Klinik at Bad Überkingen. Vinzenz von Paul Kliniken gGmbH filed at Amtsgericht Stuttgart on 17 June 2026 and the court ordered preliminary self-administration, with the interim management staying in office alongside a restructuring officer. Treatment continues at every site and the roughly 3,000 staff were told the same day. The medical care centre subsidiary and the Vinzenz von Paul Hospital in Rottweil are not in the proceedings. Management calls the filing a deliberate choice, saying self-administration gives it better conditions for pushing the restructuring through; the Baden-Württemberg hospital association puts the wider crisis down to federal policy, warning that planned legislation would nearly double the deficits of the clinics in the state to 1.7 billion euros.

Deutsches Ärzteblatt ↗

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 ↗

The caprolactam and polyamide works in the Chemiepark Leuna. Leuna-Polyamid GmbH was set up to take over the assets of the insolvent DOMO Caproleuna on 1 April 2026 and carry the business on, then filed for insolvency in self-administration itself at Amtsgericht Halle on 17 June, five months later. The company gives the cause as raw material prices rising by 40 to 100 percent after the escalation in the Gulf region, which a company that young had no reserves against, while its most important suppliers demanded payment in advance. The investor search ran to a deadline in early September 2026 and found nobody. Production is to end on 30 September and the plants will then be run down over 15 to 20 days, with 440 jobs going, though much of the workforce stays on for some time to manage the shutdown.

Wirtschaft und Industrie ↗

A mattress maker at Weida in eastern Thüringen, part of a family business that also produces at Seelbach and Benningen in Baden-Württemberg. Breckle Matratzenwerk Weida GmbH filed for self-administration on 12 June 2026, with Kai Dellit of hww hermann wienberg wilhelm appointed Sachwalter and the roughly 270 staff at Weida kept on. The company blames cost increases of up to 25 percent since the start of the year and continuing price pressure from retailers in a shrinking market. Proceedings were opened as regular insolvency proceedings on 1 August 2026 with Dellit as administrator, and the business now runs on with about 235 staff, paying wages from its own takings since insolvency benefit ended in July.

t-online ↗

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

t-online ↗

A family haulier at Möckmühl in the Heilbronn district, in business since 1967 and specialised in tanker transport of liquid foods such as fruit juice, dairy products and chocolate ingredients. Roth Logistics filed for insolvency in June 2026 with 38 staff. The cause reported is fuel: diesel stayed one of the largest cost blocks in road freight and competitive pressure made it hard to pass the increases on to customers. The founding family had handed the business to an outside managing director in March 2025.

trans.info ↗

A solar company at Schneeberg in the Erzgebirge, fitting photovoltaic systems and storage. It filed at Amtsgericht Chemnitz at the end of June 2026 and the court ordered preliminary administration, appointing Frank-Rüdiger Scheffler. The business carries on with its 40 staff while an investor is sought, with the opening of proceedings expected between the end of August and the start of September. The company gives the cause as steep cost increases and the general state of the solar industry.

Wirtschaft in Sachsen ↗

A bakery and confectionery at Mittelbiberach with twelve shops around Biberach an der Riß, eight of them in Biberach itself and the rest at Bad Buchau, Bad Waldsee and Bad Saulgau. Keim & Brecht OHG filed at Amtsgericht Ravensburg in April 2026 and proceedings opened on 1 June 2026. No rescue followed: the shops closed at the end of July 2026 and about 150 jobs went, with other bakeries in the area in talks over some of the sites. The owners give the cause as falling revenue against sharply rising staff and operating costs.

Schwäbische Zeitung ↗

A family-owned manufacturer at Buxtehude making crop-protection, airport and municipal equipment. HERBERT DAMMANN GmbH applied at Amtsgericht Tostedt for restructuring in self-administration, and the court ordered preliminary self-administration on 29 May 2026 with Per Hendrik Heerma as preliminary trustee. Production, spare-parts service and customer service continued, and wages for the 140 staff were covered by insolvency benefit through July. The company gives the cause as a prolonged market weakness in agriculture and agricultural machinery, which brought falling orders and lower capacity utilisation.

NDR ↗

A Chemnitz builder of textile machinery and plant, among other things the lines that produce artificial turf. Amtsgericht Chemnitz ordered preliminary administration by order of 27 May 2026 and appointed Joachim Voigt-Salus, with about 140 staff including six apprentices and wages covered by insolvency benefit for May, June and July. Proceedings were opened on 1 August 2026. The administrator gave the cause as weak order intake: demand normalised after the strong pandemic years and revenue and profit fell sharply, while geopolitical uncertainty, high raw material costs and sustained investment reluctance in important markets such as the Arab region kept new orders away, and measures taken from outside the company were not enough against the mounting liquidity pressure. An investor solution followed for part of the business, with the former shareholder Starlinger taking selected assets as the basis for a restart employing about 40 people, and a transfer company set up for those whose jobs could not be kept.

Voigt Salus ↗

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 ↗

A steel specialist in Augsburg since 1836, making precision strip steel, bimetal strip and band saw blades, and a subsidiary of the listed holding company Greiffenberger AG, which filed as well. Amtsgericht Augsburg ordered preliminary administration on 6 May 2026 and appointed Georg Jakob Stemshorn of PLUTA, with wages for the roughly 250 staff covered by insolvency benefit for three months. The court opened proceedings on 26 August. On 4 September WIKUS-Sägenfabrik signed for the bimetal business, which continues as a separate subsidiary and keeps 74 jobs in Augsburg, while saw and carbon steel production stops and about 160 staff were given notice, a social plan having been agreed the week before. The company gave the cause as a liquidity squeeze from geopolitical conflict, high energy costs and customers cutting orders under their own cost pressure.

PLUTA ↗

A maker of technical plastic parts for carmakers, air intake systems among them, spun out of MANN+HUMMEL in 2022, with its main plant at Sonneberg since 1991 and a second at Bad Harzburg in Niedersachsen. MoldTecs GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Meiningen on 6 May 2026 and the court ordered preliminary self-administration the same day, appointing Christoph Alexander Jacobi of Leipzig as provisional Sachwalter. Production carries on for the roughly 530 staff and the proceedings are meant to close by the end of 2026. The causes given are the strained state of the car industry and the lasting price pressure that comes with it, international competition, and higher energy and material costs. Some reporting puts the workforce at 580; the row keeps the lower figure the restructuring advisers published.

Stapper Jacobi Schädlich ↗

A machine tool builder at Soest, 93 years old, making and rebuilding machines for metalworking customers. It filed at Amtsgericht Arnsberg at the end of May 2026 with 21 staff. The managing director gives the cause as a sharp drop in orders from the start of the year, which he puts down to the general economic situation and customers holding back: several pushed their investments out to 2027. Some clients and business partners had gone insolvent themselves without settling their invoices, and the company had the capacity to work but not the orders to fill it.

Soester Anzeiger ↗

A tool maker in the Erzgebirge building stamping and forming tools, including complex progressive dies, to customer drawings and in small runs. It traces back to the Emil Schwammekrug Werkzeugbaufabrik founded in 1914. Horst Pfau GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Chemnitz at the end of February 2026 and the court opened proceedings on 1 May, appointing Christian Krönert of Schultze & Braun as administrator. The 25 staff kept working and their wages came out of ongoing trading, with orders made and delivered as usual while the administrator talked to several possible buyers. The stated cause is the downturn in the automotive supply industry: carmakers held back on new model launches, orders for new tools and revenue fell sharply, and the company could not close the resulting liquidity gap from its own means.

Schultze & Braun ↗

A four star conference hotel at Vlotho-Bonneberg in Ostwestfalen, with 98 rooms in three categories, a restaurant and bar and its own meeting and leisure space. Amtsgericht Bielefeld ordered preliminary proceedings over B&K Hotels on 30 April 2026 under file number 43 IN 332/26 and appointed Bero-Alexander Lau of Bielefeld as provisional administrator. The hotel stays open with its 20 staff while an investor is sought.

iz.jobs ↗

One of the last German makers of solar modules, building them at Bitburg and at Trier-Föhren for fifteen years. Soluxtec GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Bitburg on 29 April 2026 and the court appointed Jakob Joeres of dhpg preliminary administrator. The cause given is the pressure of international competition and module prices that have fallen sharply, which has already pushed most European manufacturers out of the market. Wages for the 70 staff were covered by insolvency benefit and the plant kept running. Proceedings opened on 1 July 2026, and Ronma Deutschland, the German arm of the Chinese module maker Zhejiang Ronma Solar, came in as strategic investor to carry on the Trier-Föhren production, subject to the federal investment review.

pv magazine ↗

A toolmaker and mail order house at Plattling in the Landkreis Deggendorf, selling high-end tools for woodworking and instrument making alongside knives, garden tools and hunting equipment, on roughly 30 million euros of revenue. Its origins go back to 1848. Dictum GmbH filed its own application at Amtsgericht Deggendorf on 28 April 2026 under 1 IN 81/26 and Hubert Ampferl was appointed preliminary administrator, with 81 staff whose pay is covered by insolvency benefit for April, May and June. The lawyers give the cause as the weak economy of recent years dampening what customers would spend, which hits a seller of high-quality goods particularly hard, on top of heavy investment in widening the range: financing for the 2026 business year could no longer be secured. Trading carries on while an investor is sought, the administrator saying the early filing leaves room for that.

Pleiteticker ↗

A family haulier at Angermünde in the Uckermark with 76 years of trading behind it and turnover of about 18 million euros in its last financial year. Amtsgericht Neuruppin ordered preliminary administration over Euba Logistic GmbH on 28 April 2026 and appointed Christian Graf Brockdorff of BBL Brockdorff, with pay for the 145 staff covered by insolvency benefit from April to June. The reasons given are the economic conditions in road haulage, in particular high fuel bills and rising staff costs. The DGL group later took the business over, keeping about 120 of the jobs and some 70 lorries.

RWS Verlag ↗

A furniture manufacturer in Ostwestfalen going back to 1937, known for the modular shelving and wardrobe systems it sells through specialist retailers. Amtsgericht Bielefeld ordered preliminary proceedings over Lübke GmbH on 26 April 2026 and appointed Dr. Yorck Tilman Streitbörger, with more than 100 staff at the Rheda-Wiedenbrück plant, production running on and wages covered by insolvency benefit. The cause given is energy: the plant is heated with oil, and the price rise that followed the Iran war, together with the increases suppliers passed on, added around 50,000 euros a month the company could not recover in its prices. The Langhorst-Gruppe of nearby Rietberg took the business over later in the year, keeping 87 jobs and the apprenticeships at the site.

retail-news.de ↗

A maker of plug and socket connection systems for cars and commercial vehicles, in Friedberg in the Wetterau for more than 90 years and turning over about 77 million euros. Erich Jaeger GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Friedberg on 14 April 2026 and the court appointed Dr. Jan Markus Plathner of Brinkmann & Partner as preliminary administrator, with about 200 of the group’s roughly 1,000 staff in Germany and over 70 of those at the Friedberg head office. Trading continued in Friedberg and at the plants in Mexico, Czechia and China while the administrator worked to hold supply to customers steady and ran a structured search for an investor for the group or parts of it. The announcement gives no cause beyond the economic position of the business, which the administrator said he would analyse before settling on a restructuring route.

hessenschau ↗

A drinks maker in the Nürnberger Land best known for the Kloster Kitchen ginger shots sold through German grocers, trading as curameo AG. It filed at Amtsgericht Nürnberg on 13 April 2026 with about 45 staff and Patrick Meyerle of PLUTA took the case. The cause given is not trading but funding: revenue had grown more than 20 percent to around 10 million euros in 2025 and the next stage of expansion needed fresh capital, which the shareholders could not agree on. The Austrian juice maker Rauch bought the Kloster Kitchen brand out of the proceedings, keeping the Reichenschwand site and 29 of the jobs.

about-drinks ↗

A precision turning and metalworking group at Sauldorf-Krumbach in the Landkreis Sigmaringen, turning parts for machine builders and the car industry and building automation lines. Stecher Drehtechnik, Stecher Automation and Stecher Holding filed at Amtsgericht Hechingen on 9 April 2026, with the roughly 175 jobs at the German site in the proceedings and wages secured by insolvency money for three months. Revenue had fallen from 35 million euros in the record year of 2021 to about 25 million. The owner gives the decisive cause as the Iran war, which froze customer budgets and cancelled orders already firmly placed, on top of tariffs, high energy and staff costs, and the cost of German bureaucracy.

Schwäbische Zeitung ↗

A care home operator running six senior residences and nursing homes with 585 residents. Ambiente Care Süd filed at Amtsgericht München on 7 April 2026 with around 740 staff. Two homes had already gone: the one at Laatzen near Hannover was closed by order of the supervisory authority and the Gröbenzell home closed on 1 April. The preliminary administrator gives the causes as rising operating and staff costs, the shortage of carers and regulatory change, with the trigger an investor financing that was promised for the restructuring and never arrived, leaving wages and suppliers unpaid.

t-online ↗

A haulier at Sonnenbühl in Kreis Reutlingen, a subsidiary of Willi Betz, running about 72 vehicles. Betz International filed for insolvency at Amtsgericht Tübingen on 7 April 2026 despite a full order book, and Dirk Poff of Tübingen was appointed administrator, with wages for the 140 staff covered by insolvency benefit for March to May while he looked at how the business could carry on. The company gives the cause as economic weakness meeting a cost explosion in road haulage.

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 ↗

A plastics processor at Kitzscher in the Leipzig district, making components for commercial and rail vehicles from its works at Thierbach and a second site at Streitwald, with roots going back to the 1950s. Amtsgericht Leipzig opened proceedings over Lätzsch GmbH Kunststoffverarbeitung on 1 April 2026 and ordered self-administration, appointing Dr. Jörg Schädlich of Stapper Jacobi Schädlich as trustee, the same man who oversaw the company through an earlier self-administration from late 2021 to early 2023. The roughly 80 jobs are what the proceedings are meant to save, and an investor process runs alongside, including the option of a transfer to a buyer who carries the business on. The company gives the causes as an important tool failing, which left orders running late, and too little new work coming in, some of it lost to customers moving production abroad.

KunststoffWeb ↗

A furniture retailer in the Westerwald going back to a carpentry shop of 1938, trading from Betzdorf since 1953 and from a showroom of more than 6,000 square metres since 1973, with further stores at Altenkirchen, Hamm an der Sieg and Limburg an der Lahn. Four companies of the group filed in April 2026 and went into preliminary administration with around 90 staff: the trading company Möbelhaus Pagnia, the property company, the holding, and the discount store pack zu at Altenkirchen. No source gives the day of the filing, so the row carries month precision. The causes given are demand for furniture falling away as living costs and energy prices keep customers from larger purchases, and price competition from online sellers and the big chains.

retail-news.de ↗

A mineral water bottler in Rhens, operating since 1862. It filed at Amtsgericht Koblenz on 3 March 2026, which appointed Alexander Jüchser of LIESER as preliminary administrator. The company reported 140 staff and continued bottling and deliveries. Management gave the causes as competition in the drinks market, higher transport costs, low margins and weaker consumer spending.

Rhenser Mineralbrunnen ↗

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 ↗

A specialist machine builder that has made industrial furnaces and thermal process plant to order for more than 50 years, working from Düren-Konzendorf, Düren-Derichsweiler and Langerwehe with 87 staff. It went into proceedings in self-administration at Amtsgericht Aachen in early March 2026 on grounds of illiquidity and over-indebtedness, with Nikolaos Antoniadis as Sachwalter and Maximilian Michelsen and Christian Krause of Aderhold as general representatives; the sources give the day variously as 1 and 6 March, so the row carries month precision. Production ran on without restriction and an international investor process started alongside the restructuring. The causes given are higher energy and site costs, a sharper international market, tariffs on top of those, and the cancellation of a large project for a customer in the United States.

INDat ↗

A precision machining supplier to the car industry at Villingen-Schwenningen. It applied for proceedings in self-administration on 24 February 2026, with Dirk Pehl appointed to supervise and wages for the 162 staff covered by insolvency benefit into April. Trading carried on without restriction and the court later opened the self-administration proceedings. The cause given is the loss of one of its largest customers, which ended the business relationship. By May the restructuring had settled on a much smaller company, with roughly 100 of the jobs going and about 60 staff staying.

t-online ↗

An injection moulding specialist at Schweinfurt making precision plastic parts. It filed on 23 February 2026 after a merger with a sister company brought costs nobody had foreseen, and proceedings were opened on 1 May with Robert Wartenberg of CURATOR as administrator. A structured investor process run by Baker Tilly ended in an asset deal that closed on 1 September 2026: Krallmann Kunststoff Solutions, a subsidiary of Precision Plastic Solutions of Darmstadt, took the business over, kept all of the roughly 100 staff and the Schweinfurt site, and trades it on under the Krallmann name.

INDat ↗

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 ↗

A contract machining firm at Unterschneidheim in the Ostalbkreis, turning and milling parts for carmakers and their suppliers. Amtsgericht Aalen opened proceedings in self-administration on 1 February 2026, with Martin Mucha of Grub Brugger as Generalbevollmächtigter and Holger Leichtle of Görg as Sachwalter. The search for an investor failed, and on 4 September 2026 the company said it will stop the business at the end of 2026, with production running out in early 2027 and the roughly 145 staff still there, down from about 190 when proceedings opened, moving into a transfer company. The causes given are the pandemic, then the energy crisis and higher energy costs, and finally orders from the car industry that kept falling.

INDat ↗

The porcelain manufacturer in Kahla filed again in February 2026 and sought restructuring in self-administration. Around 120 staff were reported after the filing. The company cited weaker than expected orders, pronounced spending restraint in hospitality and persistently high energy costs. No viable investor was found despite months of talks, and the remaining 96 employees were told in late September that production will be wound down in stages and the business will stop at the end of 2026.

MDR Thüringen ↗

A contract sheet metal shop in the Enzkreis doing CNC laser cutting, bending, welding and mechanical finishing. WK Metall GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Pforzheim on 29 January 2026 and Holger Blümle of Schultze & Braun in Karlsruhe took the case as preliminary administrator, with around 40 staff told that week and wages covered by insolvency benefit to the end of March. Orders already booked and new ones kept being made and delivered through the proceedings. The cause given is a marked fall in orders from major customers, the automotive sector above all, set against rising energy and raw material costs, which opened a liquidity gap the company could not close from its own resources. Creditors approved an insolvency plan unanimously and the court confirmed it, and managing shareholder Michael Wagner took the business on with the Kämpfelbach IT entrepreneur Jean-Pierre Walter.

Schultze & Braun ↗

The nursing home arm of the Bremerhaven Diakonie, running two care homes in the city. It filed on 29 January 2026 and the court ordered preliminary administration, appointing Dr. Christian Kaufmann of PLUTA, with proceedings opened on 1 April. Pay for the roughly 120 staff was secured and both homes carried on; residents and staff from the Jacobi-Haus in Lehe moved into the Elisabeth-Haus in Geestemünde in March as the main restructuring step. The operator gives the cause as a shortage of nurses together with sharply higher personnel costs, which left beds it could not fill. Creditors approved the insolvency plan unanimously in September 2026, clearing the way for the proceedings to end.

buten un binnen ↗

A menswear retailer founded in 1900 and for decades a fixture of German city centres, bought out of its first insolvency in 2024 by the Osnabrück fashion house Lengermann & Trieschmann. It filed again in November 2025 and Amtsgericht Osnabrück opened proceedings on 28 January 2026 with Stephan Michels as administrator. Bidders looked at the eight remaining stores but could not come to terms with the landlords, and what was left on the table would have kept the business losing money, so the preliminary creditors’ committee decided to close it: about 250 staff were given final notice along with the leases, and only Hannover and Oberhausen stayed open a while longer for clearance sales. The causes given are demand in the premium menswear segment that never came back, fixed costs left unchanged, and city-centre rents that had risen sharply. L&T said it had misjudged how sustainable the business was.

retail-news.de ↗

A maker of waterproof, windproof and breathable membranes and laminates for outdoor, sports and workwear, PTFE-free and recyclable, at Unterföhring outside Munich. Sympatex Technologies GmbH filed at Amtsgericht München on 22 January 2026 for inability to pay and the court ordered preliminary administration the following Monday, appointing Axel Bierbach of Müller-Heydenreich Bierbach & Kollegen, with around 70 staff and wages covered by insolvency benefit to the end of March. Trading continued and customer orders were worked off as planned. The causes given are consumers holding back worldwide, energy and raw material costs still elevated, and structural change in the fashion and outdoor markets bearing down on a specialist supplier. Pidigi S.p.A. of Verona took the operating business over by asset deal from 1 June 2026, keeping 21 jobs and all four apprenticeships at Unterföhring.

retail-news.de ↗

A sheet metal works in Hettingen on the Swabian Alb, pressing and welding machine housings and other fabricated parts for machine builders, among them Trumpf, the gear technology arm of Liebherr and Hermle. The family business, which traces back to a locksmith shop of about 1850, filed for insolvency on Monday 20 January 2026 with around 50 staff. The cause given is the long weak patch in the metal and machine building trade, which thinned out the orders from the customers it depended on.

t-online ↗

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 ↗

The metalworking company in Rheda-Wiedenbrück entered preliminary insolvency proceedings on 16 January 2026 with around 150 employees affected. Administrator Mike Westkamp said the main trigger was an investment in a new flatbed laser that caused significant problems, delaying existing orders, reducing revenue and creating liquidity problems even though the underlying order book was solid.

Westfälischer Anzeiger ↗

A Lower Bavarian shoe chain trading from around 41 stores as Sutor and Happy Schuh, with its central warehouse in Landshut. Four companies of the group, Sutor Schuh GmbH, Sutor GmbH & Co. KG, FJ Trading GmbH and Happy Lagerverkauf GmbH, filed at the insolvency court in Landshut on 8 January 2026 with about 400 staff, roughly a month after the Berlin entrepreneur Steffen Liebich had bought the business, and proceedings in self-administration opened there on 30 March with Oliver Schartl of Hallbergmoos as Sachwalter for all four. The grounds are illiquidity and over-indebtedness, and the reasons given for them are footfall draining out of town centres, operating costs rising, and competition from online sellers and from brands selling direct. An investor solution kept 36 of the 42 sites, several of them on renegotiated rents: Regensburg and the Landshut industrial estate had already closed, and München-Moosach, Pfarrkirchen, Zwiesel and Kolbermoor followed, with the Landshut central warehouse going too.

schuhkurier ↗

A care home at Erharting in the Landkreis Mühldorf am Inn. Seniorenpflegeheim Birkenhof GmbH went into preliminary proceedings on 22 September 2025 and Amtsgericht Mühldorf am Inn opened proceedings on 1 January 2026, appointing Ivo-Meinert Willrodt of PLUTA as administrator. Care of the residents ran on without a break throughout. A contract signed at the end of May 2026 sold the operation to OpCo Erharting GmbH, a subsidiary of Coreh Care Holding, in a transferring restructuring that kept all 72 jobs.

PLUTA ↗

The insolvent Natursteinwerk Theuma, which extracts and processes the local Fruchtschiefer, stopped operations at the end of January 2026 after the administrator had continued the business for more than two and a half years. Around 30 employees lost their jobs. The administrator cites the economic situation and declining orders from the construction industry; the seasonal quarry business also loses money during winter months. A new investor group later acquired the assets and permits for a restart.

Unternehmeredition ↗

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 ↗

A discount chain in eastern Germany with 47 stores in Thüringen, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Brandenburg, run by DEC Handelsgesellschaft mbH of Dingelstädt. It filed at Amtsgericht Mühlhausen on 5 December 2025 with around 200 staff, and Olaf Spiekermann of Brinkmann & Partner took the case. The stores stayed open while buyers were sought. By early September 2026 four operators had taken 22 of the 41 sites left, keeping about 80 of the 170 jobs that remained by then; most reopen under other names and only three stores in Thüringen keep the Groschen Markt sign. The company gave the cause as persistent consumer restraint and structural change in the market, with high property and staff costs and price competition from online sellers such as Temu and Shein.

Unternehmeredition ↗

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

gesundheitsmarkt.de ↗

A bakery founded in 1924, baking at Wees east of Flensburg and selling through eleven shops in and around the town. Bäckerei Hansen Mürwik GmbH filed at Amtsgericht Flensburg on 20 November 2025 with 145 staff, and Arno Doebert of Reimer took the case. The baker who bought the business in the summer of 2024 had modernised it heavily, and the cause given is that those costs, on top of much higher energy and staff costs, could not be met out of the running business. Production stopped at the end of July 2026 and Bäckerei Andresen of Neumünster took six shops on 1 August, keeping about 75 of the 120 jobs left by then; the remaining branches and the bakery at Wees closed.

INDat ↗

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 ↗

The DRK hospital company in Saarlouis filed for self-administration at Amtsgericht Saarbrücken on 10 November 2025 while hospital operations continued without restriction. Around 800 jobs were covered by the process. Management cited legacy burdens from the former DRK Südwest group structure and additional unforeseen events. The restructuring later succeeded and the court lifted the proceedings on 30 June 2026.

SR ↗

A provider of social services and vocational education in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Niedersachsen and Bremen. It applied for a protective shield at Amtsgericht Köln on 5 November 2025, and proceedings in self-administration opened on 1 February 2026. The restructuring adviser reported about 1,600 staff. The filing followed a review of cost and financing structures; selected programmes were transferred to other providers to preserve services and jobs. The Internationaler Bund reported that the court lifted proceedings on 15 September 2026, with around 1,100 jobs retained and about 200 staff having left.

ZRI (SIGMA press release) ↗

The hospital for the Eifel around Prüm, 150 planned beds and 453 staff. It announced on 19 November 2025 that it would file that week, and filed for self-administration at Amtsgericht Bitburg, which appointed Jakob Joeres of dhpg preliminary trustee; no source gives the day of the filing, so the row carries month precision. Management gave the cause as rising staff, energy and material costs against a refinancing it could no longer manage, on top of the structural position of a rural hospital, with losses running into the hundreds of thousands every year since 2021. Care carried on without restriction throughout. The creditors’ committee approved the restructuring plan on 16 September 2026, and the Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm is to take the hospital over by the end of 2026.

Bibliomed Manager ↗

A porcelain works at Unterwellenborn in Ostthüringen, founded in 1909, turning out about 300,000 cups a month and selling to customers worldwide, the Louvre in Paris among them. Könitz Porzellan GmbH filed for insolvency in self-administration in November 2025 and Amtsgericht Gera opened proceedings, appointing the Erfurt lawyer Rolf Rombach as Sachwalter; reporting gives no exact day, so the row carries month precision. Production runs on as normal and the roughly 100 staff were paid insolvency benefit. The cause given is a years-long court fight in France: a former business partner won damages in the six figures at first instance and had the company accounts seized in July 2025, even though the judgment is under appeal.

retail-news ↗

The former Johanniter hospital in Geesthacht and its associated medical centre, geriatrics and senior centre. After CTP took over in July 2025, Amtsgericht Schwarzenbek ordered another insolvency procedure in self-administration on 28 October 2025. NDR reported 700 staff affected. The new owner said the operation was losing EUR 600,000 a month and patient numbers had fallen; the plan had assumed more patients. The hospital continued operating while a smaller range of services was considered.

NDR ↗

Germany’s largest wholesaler of hairdressing supplies, at Viersen in the Rhineland, serving salons through 20 trade stores and one logistics centre. Management filed at Amtsgericht Mönchengladbach on 15 October 2025 and the court allowed self-administration, with Dr. Biner Bähr of White & Case as trustee. The roughly 320 staff had their pay covered by insolvency benefit and every store and the logistics centre kept trading throughout. The company gives the cause as falling economic expectations and consumer reluctance to spend, with the hair and cosmetics trade still working through the after-effects of the pandemic as customers pulled back from professional hair care. Creditors approved the insolvency plan unanimously on 21 September 2026 and the court confirmed it the same day; proceedings are expected to end in late October 2026.

Schultze & Braun ↗

A sausage and meat products maker at Hasbergen-Gaste near Osnabrück, founded in 1961 and supplying the grocery trade. It filed in October 2025 together with three sister companies: Dieter Hein Euro-Food-Service, Fleischermeister Georg Hein Niederschlesische Wurstmanufaktur-Görlitz and Hein-Hein. The court allowed self-administration, so the 379 staff across the four kept working with pay covered by insolvency benefit to the end of 2025 and production carried on in full. Management gives the cause as costs rising faster than it could pass them on: it could not raise prices with the retail trade to the extent its own costs had gone up. The Goldschmaus-Gruppe announced the takeover on 4 February 2026 and completed it on 1 March, by which point about 320 people were left.

top agrar ↗

A builder of circular knitting and braiding machines at Albstadt, founded in 1905 and for years the world market leader in its field. Mayer & Cie. applied to Amtsgericht Hechingen on 23 September 2025 to open proceedings in self-administration, with Martin Mucha of Grub Brugger as Generalbevollmächtigter. A sale process begun in April 2024 and stepped up in June 2025 found no buyer, and the works were shut down, with production ending in early 2026 and about 270 jobs going after 120 years. The causes given are revenue down by half, rising costs, weak international markets with Turkey the worst of them, Chinese competition and geopolitical disruption.

Schwarzwälder Bote ↗

A manufacturer of polypropylene films for packaging and capacitors in Neunkirchen, part of the Jindal group. It applied for self-administration on 5 September 2025; Amtsgericht Saarbrücken/Sulzbach approved preliminary self-administration with Sebastian Mohrs as Sachwalter. The company reported about 500 staff at the site. Lower demand, particularly for packaging films, had produced losses since 2023/24, and August wages were outstanding. Lucas Flöther and Anna Katharina Wilke joined as restructuring advisers to stabilise the business and seek a solution.

KPB InsO (company press release) ↗

A steel foundry of nearly ninety years standing at Sande in Friesland, casting precision parts weighing up to 45 tonnes for gas-fired power stations and ship drives, and one of the larger steel casting works in Europe. Amtsgericht Wilhelmshaven ordered preliminary administration on 3 September 2025 and appointed Christian Kaufmann of Pluta, with around 200 staff. The stated cause is orders falling away and slipping, together with steep cost increases above all for energy, against a weak market for foundries generally. Trading carried on while a buyer was sought, but on 17 February 2026 the administrator told the workforce that no investor had been found despite healthy order books, and the works closed. More than 100 people lost their jobs. Years of deferred investment had worn down the plant to the point where continuing it was not viable.

t-online ↗

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 ↗

An equipment builder founded in 1925, making systems for concrete production, heavy load handling and rail operations. Amtsgericht Heilbronn appointed Marc-Philippe Hornung of SZA as preliminary administrator on 21 July 2025 after the company filed for insolvency. SZA reported 270 staff at Weinsberg out of 360 worldwide. The administrator gave the causes as falling demand, particularly in precast concrete, and a loss-making steel project. Operations continued while restructuring options were examined.

SZA ↗

A maker of machines and automated production lines for plastic windows in Neustadt/Wied-Rott. Stürtz Maschinenbau and Stürtz Holding filed at Amtsgericht Neuwied on 18 July 2025, and Jens Lieser and Alexander Jüchser were appointed preliminary administrators. The company reported about 240 staff. Management attributed the financing problems to successive private equity sales and the current shareholder refusing further capital. Production continued with orders covering work into mid-2026; the foreign subsidiaries were not in the proceedings.

INDat (company press release) ↗

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 German subsidiary of the Polish Boryszew group, making injection moulded parts for car interiors in Gardelegen, with Volkswagen among its customers. A company spokesperson confirmed that it filed at Amtsgericht Stendal on 3 March 2025 and that 495 staff were affected. Lower orders and revenue, together with high fixed costs for wages, energy and materials, left it unable to secure the financing needed to continue. Production initially carried on and wages were covered by insolvency money for three months.

Business Insider (company spokesperson) ↗

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 Braunschweig haulier filed for restructuring in self-administration on 25 February 2025. Operations continued and wages for the 134 employees were secured by insolvency pay. The company gave the cause as revenue declines at major customers together with a generally difficult market environment.

PLUTA ↗

A Lusatian sausage and meat products maker in Bautzen. Amtsgericht Dresden ordered preliminary proceedings on 19 February 2025, and pay for the 56 staff was covered by pre-financed insolvency benefit for January, February and March. No buyer was found and the plant was shut by the start of May 2025, with local competitors taking on some of the workforce. The stated causes are rising wage, energy and raw material costs, the end of the energy price subsidy, talks with suppliers that came to nothing, and a fault in the electrical system that stopped production for a week. The administrator adds that overcapacity in the market and investor caution made a sale impossible.

top agrar ↗

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 ↗