You don’t even need to be into sim racing to have probably heard of Fanatec. Even a passing interest in any motorsport means you will probably have noticed track-side advertising or real-world drivers sim racing with Fanatec gear.
For the last few months, rumors have been circulating about internal battles and financial issues and this has now all come to a head with Fanatec’s parent company Endor AG filing for insolvency with reported liabilities of more than 95 million Euros, of which bank debt alone is some 70 million of that sum.
While all this has been going on in the background, according to sim race website Traxion which reports that founder and former CEO Thomas Jackermeier is being blamed for the collapse after blocking a move to sell the company to Corsair. The US peripheral manufacturer had previously provided some four million Euros in financial support loans in exchange for the collateral of what is believed to be product designs and the Fanatec brand while investigating a buyout.
The move was blocked as parent company Endor AG had used the German legislation StaRUG which could have allowed Corsair to purchase the company without existing shareholders receiving a payout.
While we aren’t overly interested in business politics here, we just want to see great gaming products in the hands of the people who want to purchase them, it has clearly been a mess behind the scenes.
Corsair, for its part, maintains an interest in purchasing the brand but said in its most recent financial report, “We remain interested in the sim racing brand Fanatec, owned by Endor AG
“Although we were disappointed to see the company file for insolvency, we intend to continue exploring a potential acquisition.
“Such acquisition would likely be within the framework of the pending insolvency proceedings, and as a result, we cannot provide any assurance our bid will be successful.”
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