A German court-appointed administrator has expressed confidence at the ability of Treasury Holdings to arrange a refinancing deal for Herhof, its troubled waste-management subsidiary.
"We are working hard to find a quick and stable long-term solution. I am confident that we shall be able to present an acceptable financing model shortly," said Mr Bernd Ache, the court-appointed administrator, in a statement issued by the Herhof Umwelttechnik.
On Tuesday, Herhof Umwelttechnik applied for a preliminary administration process at a court in the central German state of Hesse. Preliminary administration is similar to the Irish examinership process and is not a liquidation. Mr Ache said Treasury Holdings was anxious to work together to find a solution with new investment partners.
The company said the problems that had lead to the administration application were not caused by debt but by "temporary liquidity congestion" brought out by simultaneous construction of five waste-treatment facilities around Germany.
The refinancing deal will involve Quinlan Private, the Irish finance and real estate company, the Royal Bank of Scotland and an unnamed investor from the waste sector.
Three non-German companies are already understood to have expressed an interest in this partnership. Representatives of Treasury Holdings and Quinlan Private met the court-appointed administrator at Herhof headquarters in the town of Solm yesterday.
The company has until March 1 to put an investment plan in place and can rescind its application before then.
Herhof said in its statement, that the company was working "flat out to find a solution to debts and equity funders".
Treasury acquired Herhof in 2003, including its patented method of treating waste to produce a high-energy "dry stabilitate" or "refuse-derived fuel" (RDF), which can be used as an industrial fuel.
A quick financing deal is vital for Herhof: it is contracted to treat the waste in the central state of Hesse from June. Local authorities say they are unsure whether to wait for the administration process to develop or to cancel the contracts signed with Herhof and retender the waste management contracts.
