Imfarr: Another Austrian Real Estate Developer in Insolvency
The Viennese real estate developer Imfarr Beteiligungs GmbH has applied to the Vienna Commercial Court for restructuring proceedings without self-administration. The company's liabilities amount to around 604 million euros. This affects 18 employees and around 110 creditors.
Former Chancellor Werner Faymann left Imfarr before the first subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy. / Picture: © Flickr / Werner Faymann, Thomas Jantzen
Imfarr Beteiligungs GmbH, founded in 2007, has made a name for itself in recent years with major real estate projects in Germany and Austria. The purchase of the Silberturm in Frankfurt's banking district in 2020 for a reported 630 million euros and the acquisition of the Highlight Towers in Munich in 2021 for around 650 million euros were particularly sensational. However, some of its projects, such as the urban development quarter in Leipzig, have stalled and have not yet been realized.
Imfarr has stakes in 44 companies and owns several properties in Vienna, including buildings on Lassallestrasse. The company is managed by Nemat Farrokhnia, a former investment banker, and Ernst Gassner. Nematollah Farrokhnia, father of Nemat Farrokhnia, who worked for the Strabag construction group for over 30 years and later sat on Porr's supervisory board, also plays an important role in the background.
The company's economic situation has deteriorated drastically due to the current developments in the real estate market, as reported by ORF. According to Imfarr, it was hit particularly hard by the economic and geopolitical uncertainties, which brought demand for office real estate in Germany to a complete standstill. The unexpectedly rapid rise in interest rates also led to significantly higher financing costs and reduced demand for real estate.
Former Chancellor Werner Faymann, who joined Imfarr in 2019 and left the company in 2022, was a former investor, as reported by "DiePresse". Faymann not only brought his political contacts with him, but also his former Chancellor Josef Ostermayer, who became Managing Director of Imfarr in 2021. Both are no longer with the company.
To settle the debts, Imfarr is offering creditors a restructuring plan that provides for a quota of 20 percent within two years. This quota is to be financed through the orderly sale of the existing real estate portfolio. The KSV1870 creditor protection association has announced the insolvency and emphasized that the company's restructuring efforts will be examined in detail over the coming weeks.
Outlook and consequences
Industry experts expect that the insolvency administrator to be appointed by the insolvency court will examine the feasibility of the restructuring plan in detail over the coming weeks. The outcome of the proceedings is uncertain, but despite the challenges, Imfarr plans to restructure and continue as a going concern.
Imfarr's insolvency highlights the current difficulties in the real estate market, in particular the impact of geopolitical uncertainties and the increased interest rate environment on the demand for and financing of real estate projects. The coming weeks and months will show whether Imfarr can overcome the challenges and offer creditors an acceptable solution.