Solar Malina got a chance to survive, the Chinese enter the game – News List

The creditors of the bankrupt supplier of domestic photovoltaic power plants Energetický holding Malina gave the company a chance to continue as part of the insolvency reorganization. Compared to the bankruptcy, this opened the way for Malina to complete the contracts that had not yet been started. The reorganization was decided by a meeting of Malina’s creditors. The insolvency administrator also supported this way of solving the bankruptcy.

The company has a total of 2,200 contracts with end customers for which work has not yet begun. Malina has another 850 orders in progress.

“Reorganization is an appropriate form of solving bankruptcy. Within the framework of the reorganization, it will be possible for the contracts to be completed,” said the insolvency administrator of Malina, Rudolf Vinš, in court. “If the reorganization succeeds, the satisfaction of creditors will be higher,” added the administrator.

“The reorganization represents a positive scenario for both creditors and clients,” Malina’s current crisis manager Lukáš Uhl said at the court hearing. A 20 percent price increase will be the condition for completing orders that have not yet been started. The second option under consideration is that Malina will supply parts to customers, and they will then arrange the final assembly themselves.

Malina will now have 120 days to prepare a reorganization plan. If necessary, he can request an extension of this period to double.

However, Malina has already presented the basic principles on which she would like to base the reorganization plan. The main variant is currently counting on the entry of a Chinese investor. The shares of the existing shareholders should be canceled and the Chinese investor should subscribe for new ones.

Malina’s main shareholder Cyril Regner, who has lived in China for a long time and has a number of personal ties there, has a major role in the negotiations with the Chinese. Regner’s other company also sold parts to Malina.

On the day of the meeting of creditors, and even before the vote on reorganization, a press release came to the media that the investor in Malina was to be the Chinese company GoodHao, with the support of Chinese state funds. However, this specific information was not heard at the creditors’ meeting itself.

“I have been working on GoodHao’s entry into Malina for several months now, we have had a number of challenging negotiations. I am very happy that Malina managed to get a strong investor who presented a concrete offer on how it can help the customers and the company to overcome the current problems,” this GoodHao press release quoted Regner directly.

The Chinese firm says it will offer Malina a plan to deal with the company’s reorganization, including securing the necessary material and components for the installation of photovoltaic power plants and heat pumps.

The creditors’ meeting dismissed the existing interim creditors’ committee. In its place, it elected a new committee of seven members. This is the maximum possible number by law.

Energy holding Malina was a young company on the photovoltaic market. The company was founded only in 2021. Thanks to aggressive marketing and advertising campaigns, it grew quickly. Despite the collected advances of 60 percent of the total price, the company began to have problems completing orders. The difficulties culminated in May this year, when Malina filed for bankruptcy.

Crisis managers led by businesswoman Libuší Barková came to the company right away. However, her engagement was initially unknown. The role of a businesswoman known for various cases, including the case of ex-prime minister Stanislav Gross, gradually became known after she was described by the media, including Seznam Zpráv.

Barková’s team was covered by a contract with Misura Information Technologies. However, the insolvency administrator, the public prosecutor’s office and the courts gradually began to express doubts about the transparency and price of this contract. Subsequently, based on a preliminary judicial injunction, the administrator stopped payments from Malina to Misura until the circumstances of their contract are clarified.

At the end of September, however, a coup occurred in Malina. With the consecration of Regner, who according to the latest known data is the main shareholder of Malina, Libuš Barková’s team was replaced by new crisis managers. They are headed by Lukáš Uhl, who managed, for example, the Zoot clothing e-shop at a time when it was also going through insolvency reorganization.

“Cooperation with the new management is good. We communicate on a daily basis without any problems,” said insolvency administrator Vinš. On the contrary, the administrator’s relations with Libuš Barková’s team were relatively strained.