Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The Dutch fashion retailer Doniger Fashion Group has been declared bankrupt, entailing the loss of direct 324 jobs (225 in full-time equivalents) plus an estimated 300 jobs held by self-employed persons and temporary agency workers working for the group. Doniger Fashion Group was the successor of the McGregor Fashion Group, which went bankrupt in 2016, and was re-acquired by its owners in restructured form, with fewer employees. The restructuring was heavily criticised by trade unions at the time, claiming that it was a way to cheaply get rid of mainly older employees. A claim brought before the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights did establish that age discrimination had indeed taken place. The Doniger Fashion Group operates 53 stores in the Netherlands and an additional 22 stores in Germany, France and Belgium, with some 1,100 employees in total. The stores will remain open for the time being as new investors are sought to possibly continue the business.
UPDATE, 20/20/2017: Three weeks after investor Rens van de Schoor acquired the fashion line and stores through his investment fund, Du Soutien Beheer, in an attempt to continue the business, he has come to the conclusion that it is not viable due to poor business administration, suppliers unwilling to supply (e.g. electricity to stores), and a lot of clothing having been returned by multi-brand stores because of late delivery. This means the definitive end of this Dutch fashion retailer.
Eurofound (2017), Doniger Fashion Group, Bankruptcy in Netherlands, factsheet number 91926, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/91926.