AgfaPhoto to continue operations

The receiver, Dr. Andreas Ringstmeier, emphasized that a solution has been worked out to finance the outstanding salaries. With the liquidity resulting from the Agfa-Gevaert payments, Ringstmeier is confident to restart production and delivery within the next few days. The delivery of spare parts, particularly for AgfaPhoto minilabs, has already been released.

The 32 international distribution companies of AgfaPhoto are not insolvent and operate as usual. According to Ringstmeier, the company has filed for insolvency under own administration, a process that can be compared with the Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. In addition to the existing management, which consists of Eddy Rottie (CEO), Marc M. Bamberger (Finance) and Ingbert Schmitz (Marketing and Sales), the AgfaPhoto Supervisory Board has appointed attorney-at-law Hans-Gerd Jauch to the Board of Management. Jauch is a specialist in restructuring of insolvent companies. Dr. Ringstmeier declined to comment on the reasons of the AgfaPhoto insolvency pointing out that his first priority has been to ensure salary payments to the employees and to stabilize the liquidity to continue operations. Under German insolvency law, it is essential that the restructuring of the company will be completed within the next two months.