Prokon Creditors To Decide Future Of German Wind Farm Group

Shareholders in insolvent German wind farm operator Prokon have gathered to choose between two restructuring plans at one of the biggest shareholder meetings ever in German corporate history.



The district court at Itzehoe, a small town northwest of Hamburg, was the stage for the next act in a corporate drama on Tuesday, when it opened a crucial meeting of the creditors of insolvent wind farm operator Prokon.



Shareholder interest was so great that court-appointed insolvency administrator Dietmar Penzlin rented a hall in the port city of Hamburg that can hold 13,000 people.



The meeting, which was not open to the general public, was called to decide on how to handle outstanding investor claims to the tune of 391 million euros ($542 million), Penzlin said. The figures compares unfavorably with Prokon's remaining liquid funds of just 19 million euros.



Ahead of the meeting, Penzlin indicated investors still had a chance of getting perhaps 30 to 60 percent of their money back after Prokon's restructuring is complete.







Prokon millions gone with the wind



Prokon developed and continues to operate 50 wind parks in Germany, Poland and Finland. Determined to avoid bank debt, the company raised 1.4 billion euros since its founding in 1995 by advertising directly to the public, touting profit participation rights and promises of returns of at least 6 percent annually.



Following questions in the media about the generous yields on capital and whether they were backed by actual earnings, investors began to pull out earlier this year. They withdrew investments worth 400 million euros.



On May 1, the company filed for insolvency, dealing a blow to about 75,000 mostly small-scale investors who had hoped to profit from Germany's 'Energiewende', a long-term shift away from fossil and nuclear energy toward renewable energy.



At the meeting, investors are expected to vote on two restructuring plans aimed at either keeping the company intact, or selling some assets and carrying on with a scaled-down portfolio of wind parks.



uhe/nz (dpa, Reuters)