Steiner is granted provisional debt-restructuring moratorium
Published: Monday, Jun 10th 2024, 06:50
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As requested, the Zurich district court has granted the Zurich real estate service provider Steiner a provisional debt restructuring moratorium. The application was submitted last Thursday.
The court's decision was made on the same day, as was reported in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce on Monday. The duration of the provisional debt-restructuring moratorium was set at four months, from June 6 to October 7, 2024. The hearing to approve the definitive debt-restructuring moratorium will also be conducted by the District Court of Zurich.
Last week, Steiner AG reported on the application for a provisional debt-restructuring moratorium and justified it with a "liquidity bottleneck that would jeopardize business operations".
Steiner explains this liquidity bottleneck with "unforeseeable developments" in connection with "a few construction projects" as part of the exit from the general contractor business.
Dispute with Wetzikon hospital
The Group was recently at odds with the Wetzikon hospital in particular, where work on the new and extension building was halted in May. This was due to the termination of Steiner AG as general contractor. The new building is only 70 percent complete.
The hospital operator Gesundheitsversorgung Zürcher Oberland (GZO) AG has been in debt-restructuring moratorium since the beginning of May. It sharply criticized the general contractor Steiner, who had left the company.
The fact that the construction company terminated the contract was unlawful, the GZO declared in mid-May. It remains to be seen whether the matter will end up in court. Steiner in turn accused the GZO of not having made the contractually owed payments since April 2024.
Steiner's main aim with the debt-restructuring moratorium is to strengthen the position of creditors. The payment deferral gives the company time to work out "solutions for payment delays from customers from previous projects in the construction sector". At the same time, "these risks" would be kept away from the profitable and successful business of real estate development.
Steiner AG has been part of the Indian Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) based in Mumbai since 2010. With the application for a debt restructuring moratorium, Steiner is now successfully completing its transformation from general contractor to real estate developer, according to last week's press release.
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