The district court has declared the railway company bankrupt. In theory, the City of Lahti and the Ministry of Education and Culture still have a chance to get their money back, but other creditors will take priority.
The Päijät-Häme District Court has declared Kymiring oy bankrupt. The British railway company filed for bankruptcy itself, as it has declared itself insolvent.
The largest creditors are Ahlström Real Estate Ltd, the Ministry of Education and Culture, Nordea Bank, Finnvera, Lahti Events and Mobility Properties. According to the bankruptcy petition, the liquidation value of the assets is EUR 6.2 million. Total debts amount to approximately 22 million.
– It’s a really, really bad situation,” says Hildén.
Hildén emphasizes that Kymi Ring’s fate could not be predicted in advance.
– The possibilities for big profits were there, if everything had gone according to plan. The council, which has approved and processed the business at Kymi Ring, is completely jointly responsible. Then the councilors’ heads on a platter, if that’s what you want.
Financial institutions as a priority
The situation of Lahti Events comes to the table of the city’s decision-makers at the point when the future of the city’s event activities is discussed.
The amount depends above all on the price at which Kymi Ring’s assets can possibly be sold. However, the priority will be the secured creditors, i.e. in the case of Kymi Ring, the largest creditors Nordea and Finnvera.
Events’ share of the receivables, which is one of the unsecured creditors, was calculated in Kymi Ring’s restructuring procedure, but Merenheimo does not estimate what the amount will be after the bankruptcy procedure.
The ministry will try to recover state subsidies
Tax money has also been used for Kymi Ring in the form of a state subsidy. A few years ago, the Ministry of Education and Culture granted a total of 6.5 million euros in government grants for the motorway project.
In practice, state subsidies have usually always been recovered if the recipient has gone bankrupt, although what can be recovered through recovery is a different matter.