German automotive supply group AKsys (Worms; www.aksys.de) declared itself insolvent on 26 May after the federal government declined to fund a bailout, and the reconstruction and development bank KfW denied a EUR 22m emergency credit application. Potentially, the jobs of the some 1,800 employees at eight of the group’s ten German sites are threatened. The sites at Thannhausen and Arnstadt, which operate as independent subsidiaries at present are not affected by the filing.

Preliminary administrator Tobias Hoefer of the law firm Hack Hoefer said production at AKsys will continue uninterrupted during insolvency proceedings. Customers, creditors, the works council and employees generally with whom he has spoken “all have a great interest” in keeping the auto supplier in business, he said.

Management and employee representatives expressed disappointment that the group’s appeal for aid has been rejected, pointing to recent restructuring efforts including short-time working and job cuts, as well as an expert opinion from German economic consultant Roland Berger that saw a future for the business. Like many competitors, the specialist for acoustics, heat protection and complex plastic applications that conducts 90% of its business with the automotive industry has faced a slump in orders since the beginning of the economic downturn in autumn 2008. Sales have plummeted by 40% over the period.

AKsys was founded in 2001 in a management buyout of the automotive activities of CWW-Gerko (acoustics) and plastics technology specialist Rütgers Kunststofftechnik (RKT), at the time both units of chemicals and plastics group Rütgers – see Plasteurope.com of 08.11.2001. A year later, the new automotive supplier merged with a competitor, family-owned Faist Automotive. Family member Michael Faist subsequently has acquired nearly all of AKsys’ equity.

Today the group employs around 2,600 people at 16 locations. Alongside the ten German sites, it has production facilities in Spain, Poland, the US, Mexico and Brazil. For 2007, the last year for which figures are available, AKsys reported sales of EUR 389m, with the strength of foreign activities compensating for weakness at home. EBIT totalled EUR 12.5m, the operating result EUR 3.5m. The bottom line was a negative EUR 1.4m, which together with a loss carried forward added up to a balance sheet loss of EUR 16.6m.