Industry consolidation, economic pressures and a decline in orders from within the food trade are understood to have been major contributory factors leading to the failure of Austrian fruit and vegetable wholesaler Zeilberger fruit-service, which was declared bankrupt last week.
Zeilberger, which runs a packaging and distribution facility alongside its head office in the northern Austrian city of Wels, plus a subsidiary operation in the capital Vienna, has called in a third-party administrator and initiated an urgent restructuring process that will decide the future of its 48 employees and 220 affected creditors, according to a report in Fruchthandel Magazine.
According to credit protection association KSV1870, the group currently has liabilities of around €7.2m offset by assets worth a reported €4.7m. The company’s present debt, meanwhile, was reported locally as €2.5m.
It is understood that the company’s fruit import business, its banana ripening activities and its administrative functions will remain in operation, while for other related areas including warehousing and logistics, closure is under consideration.
The Zeilberger case is understood to be the second-largest instance of bankruptcy in northern Austria this year.
According to KSV1870, the last major insolvency in the fresh produce wholesale business was in 2006, when a company called Obst Huber Obst Gemüse & Spezialitäten was declared bankrupt.
Zeilbergerwas founded in 1934 and remains one of Austria’s leading fresh produce wholesalers.
