At a meeting in the Bankruptcy Court in Holbæk, Nordea has taken over the management of Odsherred Forsyning A/S, which is currently in reconstruction after a failed district heating project sent the company into a historic economic crisis. There is a special reason for this, explains Nordea's lawyer.
Nordea is the largest financial creditor in the parent company Odsherred Forsyning A/S, and according to the bank's lawyer and reconstructor Christian Jul Madsen, the drastic step is being taken to ensure the framework for creating the best possible solution in Odsherred Forsyning and the supply as a whole, writes Sjællandske Nyheder.
- Does that mean that there is no trust in the current management of Odsherred Forsyning?
- No, it has nothing to do with a lack of trust. It is simply because we need uniform communication and signals, and that is why we choose to take this step.
- What will it mean in practice for the supply and for the customers?
- Nothing. The daily management is intact and continues, the good work that has been done. It continues unchanged. It is a technicality, but an important technicality that means that when we reach a final solution, we have a better chance of getting that solution adopted, states Christian Jul Madsen.
Get behind the supply management
Specifically, the daily management of Odsherred Forsyning A/S will continue with CEO Pernille Ingildsen at the helm, but the board of directors will have a somewhat different composition than before. Nordea will replace the entire politically appointed part of the board and appoint its own people. Except for the two employee-elected representatives on the board.
In the Bankruptcy Court, it was clear that it came as a surprise to the chairman of the board, Susan Münster, that she and the rest of the board of directors of Odsherred Forsyning A/S were dismissed with a snap decision, writes Sjællandske Nyheder.
- It clearly came as a surprise to the management and the chairman of the board that you chose to take over the management. Why did it have to be communicated in this way?
- Well, that's just the way you sometimes do it, is the short answer from Christian Jul Madsen.
Couldn't they have given a heads up considering the nature of the case?
- You might have, but this is how we chose to do it in this situation.
In reconstruction after scandal
Odsherred Forsyning ended up in a serious scandal when their subsidiary, Odsherred Varme, had to abandon a major project to roll out district heating to five towns in the southern part of Odsherred Municipality. The company ran out of money and was left with a huge debt of 1.3 billion kr.
The management of Odsherred Forsyning had signed an agreement, a so-called self-obligor guarantee, with Nordea, which lent the heating company 680 million kr. kr.
The agreement gave the bank the right to immediately demand the money from Odsherred Forsyning if the subsidiary could not pay. The problem was that the parent company had no money, as it was only running itself without a profit.
The municipality, which owns the company and had provided guarantees for 571 million kr. via KommuneKredit, then entered into lengthy negotiations with Nordea to find a solution.
The negotiations finally came to a standstill at the end of October, when Nordea requested that both the parent company Odsherred Forsyning and the subsidiary Odsherred Varme be placed in restructuring.
The two major creditors each appointed their own restructuring officers, who were to work towards a sustainable solution for Odsherred Forsyning and Odsherred Varme, respectively. This work is expected to continue for some time to come. A report should be ready in three months, which the parties will then have three months to review. This means that the calendar is well into May 2025 before a vote is held on the statement and rescue plan that the parties can reach, writes Sjællandske Nyheder.
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