The Basel-based company had been issuing “green” bonds to private investors to finance its investments in photovoltaic installations in Europe.
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PrimeEnergy Cleantech has been officially declared bankrupt, the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SOGC) reported on Monday. Hundreds of people in French-speaking Switzerland had invested in the company that specialises in photovoltaic installations.
According to the SOGC website, a preliminary notice of bankruptcy has been issued for the Basel-based company. The opening date of the bankruptcy was set for November 14.
The Geneva-based company had announced its bankruptcy to investors on October 18. On November 6, it rejected the proposal for a debt-restructuring moratorium put forward by the same investors, arguing that the company’s liquidation could no longer be avoided.
“The bankruptcy of PrimeEnergy Cleantech is the only way to protect the interests of creditors,” said Managing Director Khalid Belgmimi in an e-mail seen by the AWP news agency.
From January to the end of June this year, the company posted a half-year loss of CHF50 million ($56.3 million), due to major value adjustments of CHF69 million, according to its accounts. Loans and receivables accounted for a hole of CHF44.8 million, and certain holdings amounted to a shortfall of CHF22.9 million.
New complaints in Vaud and Geneva
The company blames its cash shortfall on substantial loans, amounting to CHF19.5 million, granted to its majority shareholder, Laurin Fäh, and related parties. According to the company, neither Mr Fäh nor the guarantor for these loans “can or will any longer” repay them.
Mr Fäh, who assured AWP that he had already repaid CHF3.2 million, believes that the problem lies with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which blocked the issue of the bonds.
With Swiss adventurer and solar pioneer Bertrand Piccard as its ambassador, PrimeEnergy Cleantech has generated a buzz among hundreds of investors, who now feel they have been cheated after having invested tens or even hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs in the venture. An initial criminal complaint was lodged in canton Basel-Country, AWP reported at the end of October.
“People have subsequently filed complaints in Lausanne and Nyon, as well as in Geneva. The complaints are multiplying,” said Jérôme Fontana, one of the heads of the investor support group. The courts are not confirming the filing of these complaints for reasons of investigative protection.
Translated from French by DeepL/sb
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