L 199/36 Official Journal of the European Union 7.8.2003 COMMISSION DECISION of 30 April 2003 on the State aid implemented by Germany for Heckert Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH (notified under document number C(2003) 1326) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2003/591/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 88(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provisions cited above () and having regard to their comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By letter dated 28 December 1999, Germany notified the Commission of aid to Heckert Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH. The aid case was registered under number NN 7/ 2000. By letters dated 21 January 2000, 26 January 2001 and 1 August 2001, the Commission asked for further information. Germany replied by letters dated 24 February 2000, 29 May 2001 and 6 September 2001. By letter dated 28 December 2001, the Commission informed Germany that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the aid and invited interested parties to submit their comments (?). The case was then registered as C 93/2001. Comments from Germany were received on 28 January and 1 March 2002. II. DESCRIPTION 1. Beneficiary The case concerns rescue and restructuring aid to Heckert Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH. The company produces machine tools and is specialised in the produc- tion of milling machines. It is situated in Chemnitz in the Land of Saxony, an assisted area under Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty. HWG is the successor of the former State-owned ‘Kombinat Fritz Heckert'. () O] C 51, 26.2.2002, p. 13. () See footnote 1. (a) Privatisation In 1991 the Kombinat Fritz Heckert’ was taken over by the German Treuhandanstalt (THA) and was renamed Heckert-Chemnitzer Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH (H- CW). After an open and unconditional tender, the essential parts of the machine tool production were sold on 24 September 1993 under the name of Heckert Chemnitzer Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH (HCW’) to Traub AG, Reichenbach. The purchase price was DEM 7 million (EUR 3,57 million). At that time HCW employed 420 people. In the context of the privatisation, the company received aid totalling some EUR 81,6 million under approved aid schemes. These measures included residual securities for liquidity guarantees and credit line liabilities amounting to DEM 11 million (EUR 5,6 million) originally granted by the Bundesanstalt fiir vereinigungsbedingte Sonder- aufgaben (BvS’) before the privatisation. These guaran- tees were taken over, up to a liability of 80 %, by the Land of Saxony (Land’) and the Federal Government (%). In 1995 Traub AG began to encounter financial difficul- ties. Due to the bad results incurred by Traub AG, the banks froze the whole group's credit lines. By the end of 1996, the subsequent lack of liquidity forced both Traub AG and HCW into bankruptcy. At the time of its bank- ruptcy HCW employed 640 people. (b) Continuation of activity during receivership The bankruptcy receiver decided to continue the activity of HCW in order to prepare it for subsequent sale. On 24 January 1997, he established Heckert Werkzeug- maschinen GmbH (HWG) as a hive-off of HCW. This was done in order to be able to act on the market with a company that was not in receivership. HWG's purpose was to acquire and process new orders whereas HCW, which was in receivership, continued to produce the goods that were to be sold via HWG. (*) Bundesbiirgschaftsprogramm (Ost) (SG (91) D/13344, 15.7.1991 (N 297/91)).