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The Austrian winery Anton Bauer in Feuersbrunn (Wagram) has filed for insolvency due to debts totalling millions of euros. According to the Credit Protection Association (KSV) and the credit agency Creditreform, the winery, which is run by three companies and has 13 employees, currently has debts totalling 5.45 million euros.
This affects Anton Bauer as a sole proprietor, Anton Bauer GmbH and B&W Fine Wine Exports GmbH. The winegrower owns around 13 hectares of vineyards, with a further 27 hectares of vineyards leased. 70 per cent of the annual production is exported, mainly to the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
KSV explained the reasons for the insolvency, stating that there had been a "considerable slump in sales over the past 12 months". The global wine market is oversaturated by 30 per cent, "so that there is currently 30 per cent more wine in stock than can be sold," Bauer wrote in the insolvency petition. "It is therefore to be feared that there will be a market shakeout in the entire wine industry."
According to the application, Anton Bauer had previously been intensively searching for investors. There had been interested parties from abroad, but they were not allowed to invest in the winery due to the legal situation. The search for investors in Austria had not been successful. The winery has therefore opened bankruptcy proceedings at the St. Pölten regional court, as "the reorganisation currently appears to have little prospect of success", explained KSV.
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(uka / Sources: ORF, Kurier, KSV and others)