DThe Höchst Porcelain Manufactory can continue to produce for the time being. After the formal opening of the insolvency proceedings by the Frankfurt district court on Friday, insolvency administrator Frank Schmitt announced that business operations could initially be continued. He sees “a realistic chance of the continued existence of the only porcelain manufactory in Hesse”. A new concept or another sale to an investor is under discussion.
The porcelain manufactory in Frankfurt’s Höchst district is the oldest existing porcelain manufactory in Germany after Meissen. The company with the blue Mainz wheel as a trademark produces, among other things, the “Hessian lion”, which the state government presents to state guests and at civil ceremonies.
Manufactory on urban land
Since Friday, the ten employees can no longer receive state insolvency money, but must again receive regular wages from the company, which must be raised through ongoing operations. However, since this has been in deficit so far, the insolvency administrator must have found a financing solution, at least for the transition, in order to be able to continue operations. It is conceivable that creditors – for example landlords or employees – are currently waiving part of their payment claims or deferring them to enable further talks for restructuring or the continuation of the search for investors. The factory in Höchst is on municipal property, the shop is in a private house in the new old town of Frankfurt. Schmitt did not want to say how the operating costs will be covered from now on. In addition to the salaries for the ten skilled workers, the production costs and the rent for the production site in Höchst and the shop in Frankfurt’s old town have to be financed.
A month ago, the porcelain manufactory, which advertises the year it was founded as 1746, had to file for insolvency again at the Frankfurt district court. This came at the insistence of the employees, who had not received any wages since mid-March. With the insolvency application, they were able to receive insolvency money from the employment agency retrospectively. However, since this can be paid for a maximum of three months, insolvency administrator Schmitt only had until the end of June to raise new money for continued operation. He had also held talks with the state government this week. These were “very constructive”, said Schmitt.
He had already accompanied the company through insolvency proceedings in 2018. At that time, an investor from Hong Kong, who already ran a bathroom fittings company in Hesse, took over the business. However, despite the new shop in the old town and a new online shop, he was unable to get the company out of the red. Insolvency administrator Schmitt emphasized that the imbalance of the manufactory was only a small part of the result of the Corona crisis.
Other State-owned Porcelain Makers
Other large porcelain manufactories in Germany are now majority state-owned: the 312-year-old Meissen porcelain manufactory has belonged to the Free State of Saxony since reunification, and the Fürstenberg manufactory, founded in 1747, was taken over by the state of Lower Saxony in 2019. This nationalization was justified with the “cultural-historical importance” of the company.
However, these manufactories have had almost uninterrupted business activity since their foundation. The Höchst porcelain manufactory went bankrupt during the occupation of the French Revolution and was only revived in 1947. At times it belonged to Hoechst AG and Dresdner Bank. From 2001 to 2011, the state of Hesse was involved in the manufacture. A spokeswoman for the Hessian Ministry of Finance, which manages the holdings, did not want to say whether the state is currently talking about an entry again.
