Deutsche Lichtmiete names the LED lighting for Hydro Aluminum as a reference project. After a raid by the public prosecutor’s office, the lights threaten to go out at the Oldenburg lighting specialist.
(Photo: Axel Hartmann Photography)
Berlin The new year begins with a shock for the employees of Deutsche Lichtmiete. The lighting specialist from Oldenburg is insolvent and filed for bankruptcy on December 30th, according to a letter from the board of directors Alexander Hahn to the employees, which is available to the Handelsblatt. The subsidiaries for production and rental are also affected.
Under the subject line “A black day” Hahn writes that the public prosecutor blocked all accounts of the group on December 8th. “We are therefore unfortunately unable to act and also insolvent.” He will have to resign as a member of the board. A “new age” is beginning, someone else will take charge of renting the light, Hahn announced.
“I’m so sorry for all of you what is happening right now,” Hahn writes. “I didn’t want anyone to have grief because they work at the lighting rental company, working for the lighting rental company as a supplier or service provider or investing their money in the lighting rental company.”
On Friday, neither Hahn nor his spokeswoman replied to a short-term request for a statement from the Handelsblatt.
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Suspected fraud
Since a raid by the public prosecutor’s office in Oldenburg at the beginning of December, it is known that the prosecutors are investigating those responsible on suspicion of collective fraud.
The authority has not yet given the names of the accused, but has given the allegation: Light rent is said to have collected capital from investors, although the investor model was “unsustainable and unsuitable” for generating investors’ demands.
The Deutsche Lichtmiete group of companies offers rental lighting solutions. The business concept is “Light as a Service”, it says on the website. The group has implemented more than 700 modernization projects in industry, trade and public institutions.
Hahn founded Lichtmiete in 2008, and at the end of 2021 the company had 120 employees at eight locations. Lichtmiete has collected around 200 million euros from an estimated 5000 investors who are now on fire.
The group of companies used two financing models: direct investments in the assets and exchange-traded bonds. In the case of direct investments, investors first bought lighting systems, which the company then leased back in order to sublet them to commercial customers. After the lease expired, Lichtmiete bought the products back from the investors, who were attracted with an annual return of more than five percent.
The public prosecutor is convinced that the business model did not work – and that those responsible were aware of it. Hahn stated in December: “In the interests of our employees, investors and other parties involved, we will actively contribute to clearing up the allegations as quickly as possible.”
Bonds collapse
Hahn is now sounding more irritable. In writing to the employees, he attacks the public prosecutor’s office. Their assumptions were based on reports from an “opposing party”, which he did not specify. He was shocked because the reports were “so flawed and poorly crafted that I cannot actually eliminate the company on this basis”.
The prices of the bearer bonds from Lichtmiete collapsed massively after the search. The bond issued in 2021, for example, fell from 97 euros to below 10 euros.
“In the last few weeks I’ve given everything and fought like never before in my life,” Hahn writes to his colleagues and tries to encourage them with perseverance. “I know that Deutsche Lichtmiete will surely be worth over 500 million euros in 5-6 years,” he notes. However, Hahn did not explain what this conviction is based on in view of current developments.
More: Public prosecutors search the lighting specialist Deutsche Lichtmiete in Oldenburg