According to the European magazines, it was a bit of a tense situation in the courtroom in Austria today, where KTM AG (parent company of KTM, GasGas, Husqvarna) ran over its repayment and rebuilding plan—but at the end of the day, they persuaded the court to play ball, and that means Euro production will restart soon.
The key to the courtroom victory for KTM was a repayment plan that sees them committed to paying back a lot less than they owed—but accelerating that payback timeline rapidly, and giving their creditors a lot more than they might have received otherwise.
Specifically: KTM has committed to repaying 548 million euros to its creditors by May 23, 2025. This is only 30 percent of what they owed, but they’re paying it back over 90 days instead of over two years, and with no deal, there was the possibility that creditors would get even less.
As part of the arrangement, KTM is now allowed to continue with its internal restructuring and resume in-Austria production in mid-March; a 50 million euros investment from Bajaj (a part owner in KTM AG) was key there. KTM hasn’t said exactly where they intend to get the other half-billion euros they need by late May, but if they pay back the money on time as required, they can continue to restructure and do business in their newly rebuilt form, whatever that looks like.
See KTM AG’s official statement below:
KTM AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of PIERER Mobility AG, applied for court restructuring proceedings with self-administration on November 29, 2024. The aim of the proceedings was to agree on a restructuring plan with the creditors within 90 days.
At today’s restructuring plan meeting, the creditors accepted the restructuring plan submitted by KTM AG. This plan provides for creditors to receive a cash quota of 30% of their claims in the form of a one-off payment (cash quota). In order to fulfil the quota of 30%, KTM AG must deposit an amount of EUR 548 million with the restructuring administrator by May 23, 2025 at the latest. The court will then confirm the restructuring plan at the beginning of June 2025 and the restructuring proceedings of KTM AG will end once it becomes legally binding.
To enable production to be ramped up again gradually from mid-March 2025, KTM AG will be provided with financial resources totaling EUR 50 million from the extended circle of shareholders. With the approval of the reorganisation plan, this amount will now be transferred to KTM AG to cover the costs of the phased resumption of production in March 2025. The planned full capacity utilisation of the four production lines in single-shift operation is to be achieved within three months.
