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The Munich entrepreneur Hans Kilger has filed for insolvency for the Steirerwein company, in which he has held a 50 percent stake with his Domaines Kilger since 2018. The reason he gives is that the founder and other shareholder of Steirerwein, vintner Christian Reiterer, had violated his fiduciary duties towards the company. Accordingly, Reiterer is said to have diverted turnovers of a major customer into one of his own companies. The latter countered that Domaines Kilger had not fulfilled its obligations under the cooperation agreement and had therefore failed to make investments and payments. Kilger, which has already terminated this contract in May 2020, says: "We have demonstrably invested millions and tried until the end to continue the cooperation that has existed since 2015."
Steirerwein Produktion & Handel was founded in 1996 by Christian Reiterer and vinified wines for Domaines Kilger. According to the insolvency application, the liabilities amount to 2.24 million euro. Within a few days, this is the second bankruptcy for a Styrian winery in which Hans Kilger is involved. Only on 14 February the insolvency of Domäne Müller and the affiliated trading house E.u.M. Müller became known. And against the Mangalitza pig breeding farm La Gioia in Eastern Styria, of which he owns 60 percent through a holding company, he filed a criminal complaint a few days ago for animal cruelty and deception by the operators. The operators counter that Kilger did not provide the company with the investments it was entitled to according to the contract. Despite the problems, Kilger wants to pursue further growth plans in Austria and Styria. In addition to several wineries, his holdings also include restaurants, hotels, a mineral water company and a livestock farm in Romania.
Christian Reiterer's winery itself is not affected by the events.
(al / Source: steiermark.orf.at; Photo: domaines-kilger.com)