As I wrote last week it will happen “bit by bit”, latest snippet Karlheinz Menrad has been fired, apart from being responsible for the Hungarian plant in Györ, he also just so happens to be the CEO at Adler Toy. 
The other “casualty” is Hans Reyher, the CFO at Märklin. Both of them have been at Märklin for decades! The web ist starting to tear!
I know nothink! Nnnothink! Colonel Hogan, I think you are trying to get me in trouble!
About time for Vic to post the Hindenburg pic.
Looks like management are being ousted to make way for friends of the Kingsbridge boss to move right in. Maybe Marklin is being restructured as a mangement consultant company or maybe an investment banker?
Tim Brien said:Actually it looks more like the Kingsbridge cronies and lackeys are being ousted by the insolvency trustee - remember the consultants were the first to be shown the door. There is a mile long report from FERPRESS on the connections and entanglements. Very interesting reading but much too long to be translated. Suffice to say when a trustee starts to talk about "hush money" in connection with some departures, along with references like "those who knew too much were fired or took "their leave" you can't help but expect a few more drastic moves.
Looks like management are being ousted to make way for friends of the Kingsbridge boss to move right in. Maybe Marklin is being restructured as a mangement consultant company or maybe an investment banker?
BTW it has been established that the factory in Györ is not a stand alone entity in as far as the insolvency procedure is concerned i.e. it is clearly within the hierarchy of Märklin Göppingen, a very important difference!
Hans-Joerg,
You said that with KingsbridgeCapitol behind Marlkin that they would be LGB’s “SAVIOR”… Now you say that KingsbridgeCapitol people are being thrown to the wolfs… Who are you going to predict will save LGB now??
Bob Burton said:
Hans-Joerg,You said that with KingsbridgeCapitol behind Marlkin that they would be LGB’s “SAVIOR”… Now you say that KingsbridgeCapitol people are being thrown to the wolfs… Who are you going to predict will save LGB now??
Bob,
Show me one instance of me mentioning a “savior”. 
What I said, and still say, is “Märklin being awarded the bid was the right decision!” In my book it’s “ABC” (Anyone But the old Clique!). Just something in my genes that doesn’t agree with the machinations of certain people. But obviously slimeballs come in all kinds of different packages and operate under any number of pretexts, that much is for sure and is being proven on an almost daily basis!
Oh BTW slow down when you post, you’re developing the Texas syndrome!
Hans-Joerg,
Just reminding you that I said it was not good for Marklin to be taken over by KingsbridgeCapitol!! Looks like the chickens are coming home to roost!!
Bob Burton said:
Hans-Joerg,Just reminding you that I said it was not good for Marklin to be taken over by KingsbridgeCapitol!! Looks like the chickens are coming home to roost!!
Welllllll really? The way I remember it: you didn’t like your favourite LGB (EPL Patentwerk oHG incarnation) to be taken over by Märklin. As I said before, too early to start rewriting recent history!
I’m sure you would have been happy with the Old Clique, you’re in numerous company on that score! BTW did you send an email to Deutsche Bank and Goldman-Sachs, too?
Actually what I find the most startling of similarities between the EPL and the Märklin insolvencies: both got tripped up by the banks. And by the looks of things those fancy steps which came up short in the EPL case, seem to be destined for the same result.
I’m all in favour of that, the fewer slimeballs leeching off humanity the better! Let them all be consultants!
Jack Barton said:
About time for Vic to post the Hindenburg pic.
(http://www.boingboing.net/images/x_2008/ohthehugemanatee.jpg)
Hans-Joerg,
Boy is your MEMORY getting bad…
Bob Burton said:
Hans-Joerg,Boy is your MEMORY getting bad…
Bob,
Let me condense it to the simplest form, choices were
first time around: Schöntag or Märklin - it is still a mystery who Schöntag’s backers (those who hung him out to dry) were, but a good indication could be the crew who got banned from the LGB booth at the 2007 Nürnberg Fair.
second time around: Märklin or one of the many incarnations/constellations including G45/LGBoA (a thinnly disguised version of the old Clique).
Clear cut choices, aren’t they? As I keep saying “ABC” (Anybody But the old Clique!)
Two more senior managers at Märklin were fired today. Thomas Roth, the head of Personnel,and Gerd Uhlmann, the head of the Export Division.
Unattributed.
Oh I tought that happened yesterday or day before yesterday? Reads like a “And then there were only x little x” story to me.
BTW the matter that the authorities are looking at, respectively considering for possible prosecution, is “breach of trust”.
PS I’m sure the employees were just “devastated” to see Roth fired. 
Well, the Marklin situation is certainly a breath of fresh air. Not that I wish Marklin any bad fortune, but it does seem that some of the managers responsible for the bankruptcy are getting the axe.
Here in the U.S., the federal government would give them enough money that their jobs and bonuses would be secured for years into the future, and then those executives would be forced to get a new company airplane and take it to Las Vegas for a business conference, mostly held late at night in night clubs. They would even throw in a few customers and some mid-level employees just to keep morale up!
When they get back home and sober up, they would apply for more of Obama’s stimulus money; Just a little eye opener before they buy their competitor for more than anyone can imagine.
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Jerry Bowers said:
Well, the Marklin situation is certainly a breath of fresh air. Not that I wish Marklin any bad fortune, but it does seem that some of the managers responsible for the bankruptcy are getting the axe.Here in the U.S., the federal government would give them enough money that their jobs and bonuses would be secured for years into the future, and then those executives would be forced to get a new company airplane and take it to Las Vegas for a business conference, mostly held late at night in night clubs. They would even throw in a few customers and some mid-level employees just to keep morale up!
When they get back home and sober up, they would apply for more of Obama’s stimulus money; Just a little eye opener before they buy their competitor for more than anyone can imagine.
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Hard to say if Marklins problems are the result of the Marklin management being let go…or the management of the investment group.
Scapegoats are common today.
Ralph
One would have thought that injecting a little more business acumen into the business would have improved matters. They after all had more funds available than the others to bid for LGB and they were “chosen”. However, to see so much money wasted on consultants begs the question what the management were being paid for. I for one thought that Marklin/Kingsbridge offered LGB the best chance. Lets face it they were only up against the people who had driven LGB into such indebtedness and therefore the decision was really a no brainer. I am sorry to say that Marklin wee not the “saviour” (my words) we all hoped for but they were the only credible “saviour” two years ago. No-one could predict how much money would be wasted nor could they predict the current economic circumstances. HJ may have come across as anti-old-LGB management but there were others who also shared the same view including me. The whole train market is taking a considerable bashing at the moment and I think it may be some time…someone is going to have to write off aot of corporate debt in order to make things look viable again.
Les
I guess it depends on what type of “Business acumen” your looking for. If the courts were looking for an investment group that was intent on a quick turnaround to make big $$$ then the courts found what they were looking for. Kingsbridge/Goldman Sachs obviously didn’t intend to run a model train company and the end result is positive proof! I guess when they couldn’t sell it off quickly they decided to bleed it dry.
I for one did not see Märklin as a “savior” but as a potential “destroyer” which in my opinion they proved themselves to be. I believe that even though the old EPL management owed a substantial debt to the banks the company might have survived had the banks worked with them rather than throwing them to the wolves - Kingsbridge/Märklin being the wolf in sheeps clothing. The products and attitudes at EPL were changing when the bankruptcy took place. I have to wonder what might have happened if they had been given the chance to trim the company down and keep it in Nurnberg. Perhaps a real model train company will end up with the Märklin/LGB tooling in the future and we’ll see someone who actually cares about the hobby making the products once again.
Why would the banks have confidence in those responsible for incurring the debt and failing to pay them back in the first place? If you saw marklin as a potential destroyer, what did you see the richters as? They borrowed the money and didn’t pay it back! Hardly confidence inspiring is it?
Nonetheless, it does appear that marklin paid out loads of money in interest and consultants’ fees and that this may have contributed to its demise. But we must be careful to look past the posturing of the interested parties and await the facts as they are drip fed through the press and official announcements.
Les