CIM Capital, the investment fund of Marc Van Hool, among others, has filed a third party objection to the sale of the trailer division with the corporate court. CIM Capital still wants to be able to bid for the department.
There is a new plot twist in the case of the bankrupt bus builder Van Hool. The investment fund of Marc Van Hool, a grandson of the company’s founder, is going to the corporate court. The investment fund still wants to be able to bid for part of Van Hool.
According to Philippe Van den Broecke, lawyer at Agio Legal who acts for CIM Capital, serious procedural errors were made in the allocation of the trailer division to Schmitz Cargobull. CIM Capital had already registered as an interested party in March, before Van Hool’s bankruptcy. However, the fund was not given access to sensitive company information, which meant that it could not make a well-calculated offer for the trailer division.
The fund initially showed its interest to crisis manager Marc Zwaaneveld and submitted a non-binding offer to the trustees. CIM Capital explicitly requested access to the trailer division’s figures in order to make a binding offer. However, the trustees chose to prioritize the ongoing discussions with Schmitz Cargobull. That German group bid for the trailer division via the South African GRW.
According to CIM Capital, serious procedural errors were made during the sale and CIM Capital should also have had access to the crucial company information. The fund still wants that information with the aim of making a substantiated offer. It acts in alliance with former tire dealer Jos Delcroix.
550 jobs
CIM Capital is convinced that its offer is the best guarantee for the survival of Van Hool’s trailer division in Koningshooikt. The fund has doubts about the longer-term commitment of GRW Schmitz Cargobull. CIM Capital’s partner, Jos Delcroix, is a candidate to purchase the entire real estate complex. That would be the best option for the banks, the largest creditor, it is said.
On April 9, 2024, CIM Capital made an offer for the industrial vehicles division. That offer was substantially better in all areas than the offer that the trustees ultimately chose. CIM Capital would like to take over that department in its entirety and thus make a fresh start with all product categories included in it. This would allow the investment fund to retain at least 550 of the 750 jobs. The majority of the former top managers of that department and several stakeholders are said to have indicated that they fully support this.
“We want to guarantee the local anchoring of engineering, research & development and production in the long term and ensure that Van Hool can once again achieve success in Flanders and Belgium, as is our strategy for all our investments,” says Erik Verkest, CEO of CIM Capital.
