Hungarian lighting company Tungsram files for bankruptcy protection

Tungsram has shipped a statement to the Index news portal to inform the public that the company has filed for bankruptcy protection. The company on Wednesday informed employees, unions, works councils and banks of this mandatory measure, as required by law. As we previously reported, 1,600 company employees were made redundant at the end of April, including 400 in the Újpest district of Budapest alone.

This article was originally published on our sister site, Ungarn Heute.

“Tungsram Operations’ lending partner, Eximbank, on Wednesday exercised its legal right to file for bankruptcy,” the Index article said. “This means that any funds already in bank accounts that have not yet been received would be handled by Eximbank. Tungsram respects the bank asserting its legitimate interests in this way.”

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Tungsram said it continues to prioritize its obligations to its employees, customers, suppliers and authorities. On Wednesday, the company took a legal and financial protection measure that could resolve these disputes; he filed for bankruptcy protection.

The company pointed out that it did so because it was able to continue paying the wages and taxes of its remaining employees under bankruptcy protection. They also informed their employees, unions, works councils and banks about the bankruptcy protection. Jörg Bauer, the company’s CEO, said the company’s management would do everything possible to “pursue the company under bankruptcy protection on the basis of a transition to a profitable business structure”.

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Jörg Bauer pointed out that

insolvency protection does not mean the dissolution of Tungsram, but an attempt to ensure the successful survival of the business.

The fact that the company was in great difficulty was already known a month earlier. The company was in an insurmountable economic situation. At that time it was also decided to partially close the plant and the layoffs were only discussed later.

Featured in the photo: Joerg Bauer, CEO of Tungsram. Photo by Zoltan Mathé/MTI