The Maribel hotel group with the hotel brands First Hotel, Moxy and Courtyard by Marriott has gone bankrupt, reports Svenska Dagbladet. But whether the Swedish hotels will be affected is still unclear.
But debts of just over 1 billion kronor brought the group to its knees, which Dagens Næringsliv was the first to report.
Through subsidiaries in Sweden, Maribel owns 15 hotels under the First Hotel brand. However, it is still unclear how the Norwegian group's bankruptcy will affect the Swedish hotels.
”"At the moment, they are not affected by Maribel's situation, it's about different companies. It's important to emphasize that the Swedish hotels have not gone bankrupt," says Johan Appelgren, Sweden manager at First Hotel to SvD.
But the situation for the Swedish subsidiaries is also tough – all of them have been in corporate restructuring since the end of June. The debts total several million.
However, Johan Appelgren tells SvD that there is no reason to worry.
”"Operations in Sweden and Norway continue, and it is possible to book rooms as usual. You absolutely do not need to worry as a guest," he tells the newspaper.
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, the group's revenue has decreased drastically, which the company says is the reason for the bankruptcy. But even before the virus spread, Maribel was suffering from financial problems.
”"Since last autumn, we have been working hard to obtain long-term financing together with our three main creditors: Vastint, Host and Marriott. Unfortunately, we did not reach this goal before the corona crisis," says Maribel's CEO Pål Mørch to Dagens Næringsliv and continues:
”"It's very sad. We can definitely say that the bankruptcy is corona-related. No, we were not stable before Covid-19, but we were on the verge of cleaning up a messy financial situation and absolutely believed that the group would survive," he says.
Bankruptcy trustee Egil Hatling at the law firm DLA Piper comments on the bankruptcy to Dagens Næringsliv.
”We have to work day and night to find solutions for creditors and employees,” he says.
Source: di.se
