L 108/44 Official Journal of the European Communities 27.4.1999 COMMISSION DECISION of 25 November 1998 on State aid granted by Germany to Draiswerke GmbH (notified under document number C(1998) 3800) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/275/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Atrticle 93(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 those provisions, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE By letter dated 30 August 1996, Denmark informed the Commission of State aid which, according to an article appearing in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 8 August 1996, was apparently being granted to the firm Draiswerke GmbH, Mannheim. By letter dated 26 September 1996, the Commission asked Germany for its comments. Germany replied by letter dated 18 February 1997 and confirmed that several transactions involving public funds had taken place. The Commission took the view that these transactions might contain State aid that was not covered by an approved aid scheme. The matter was therefore registered on 19 March 1997 as ‘unnotified aid’. By letter dated 21 March 1997, the Commission asked Germany to supply the information necessary for the assessment of restructuring aid. Germany replied to this request on 2 June 1997. The Commission requested further information by letter dated 18 July 1997, since some important details had not been supplied. In its letter of 8 September 1997, Germany indicated that some of the information previously submitted had been revised, and reference was made to a further transaction. By letter dated 26 January 1998, the Commission asked Germany to clarify these points. Germany replied to this request by letter dated 16 February 1998. By letter dated 25 March 1998, the Commission informed Germany that it had decided to initiate proceedings under Article 93(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the unnotified measures. A Commission notice to this effect was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities('). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments. The Commission received no comments from interested parties. 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURES The company was in severe liquidity difficulty in 1996. The Mannheim city authorities arranged negotiations between banks and the owners to keep the firm in busi- ness. The parties involved decided to adopt restructuring measures and thus averted the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings. In its decision to initiate Article 93(2) proceedings, the Commission noted the following meas- ures: (@) In August 1996, the Mannheim city authorities put up a loan of DEM 0,8 million (ECU 0,4 million) for ten months at an interest rate of 5 %. (b) On 21 August 1996, the Landeskreditbank Baden— Wiirttemberg (hereinafter referred to as ‘LAKRA’) put up a 50 % deficiency guarantee in respect of DEM 6 million (ECU 3 million). This was originally sched- uled to expire on 30 June 1997, but was extended on 27 June 1997 for a further year until 30 June 1998. The guarantee was subject to a one-off fee of 1 % and an annual charge of 0,5 % of the outstanding guar- antee amount. (c) The public bank Sparkasse Mannheim granted loans secured by the abovementioned guarantees. These took the form of an overdraft facility of DEM 4 million (ECU 2 million) at an initial interest rate of 8 % (currently 8,25 %) and a guarantee loan of DEM () OJ C 207, 3.7.1998, p. 14.