No wages paid for months Two traditional Swiss mattress brands are on the brink of closure
The Swiss mattress brands Superba and Swissflex are deep in crisis: the operating company Aquinos Bedding Switzerland is insolvent and wages have not been paid for months.
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- The Swiss Aquinos subsidiary is bankrupt and employees have reportedly not been paid since June.
- According to the authorities, an investor is showing interest, while creditors must submit their outstanding claims.
- The locations in Germany, Austria and Poland are also struggling with similar problems.
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The well-known Swiss bedding world is facing a drastic moment: as reported by the "Luzerner Zeitung ", Aquinos Bedding Switzerland AG - operator of the Superba and Swissflex brands - is insolvent. The company had been under provisional debt-restructuring moratorium since September, followed by formal bankruptcy at the end of October, writes the newspaper.
While the name Aquinos is hardly known in Switzerland, Superba and Swissflex are among the most traditional brands in the domestic mattress market. Superba was founded over 100 years ago in Aargau and developed into a major employer from the 1950s onwards. For decades, the company employed hundreds of people, many of them cross-border commuters from nearby Alsace.
Aquinos and Swissflex wages outstanding
The history of the current structures is complex: following the takeover by the Belgian Recticel Group in the late 1990s, parts of production were relocated to Solothurn and Belgium. In 2022, the Portuguese Aquinos Group finally swallowed up Recticel's entire bed division.
According to industry sources, the products disappeared from the market months ago, although they were previously frequently found at Möbel Märki, XXXLutz and Livique. In the meantime, around 70 to 80 people are said to have been employed in Switzerland. Today there are still around 45 - many of them at the production site in Flüh SO. The administration in Büron LU is now deserted.
Several people familiar with the situation told the "Luzerner Zeitung" newspaper of serious financial bottlenecks. The Portuguese parent company had overextended itself with the purchase and later transferred hardly any more money to the Swiss subsidiary. "At some point, Aquinos simply stopped paying the bills," says one creditor according to the report. The Swiss company "died a slow death of suffocation", according to another source. An outstanding claim of over 200,000 Swiss francs from its own pension fund weighs particularly heavily.
Investor shows interest - employees continue to wait
Insurance premiums have also not been paid: Suva confirms that legal collection proceedings have been initiated due to outstanding premiums.
During the debt restructuring moratorium, the administrator was unable to find new investors. However, the bankruptcy office says that there is an interested party who would like to take over both production and the site. Other inquiries relate to individual business areas or brand rights. However, the authorities are not being more specific - too early in the process, they say.
Meanwhile, the workforce remains in a difficult situation: according to several sources, no wages have been paid since June.
In Switzerland, long-established companies are currently experiencing repeated upheavals. In August, for example, around 50 percent more companies became insolvent than in the previous year.
Time and again, restaurants are also affected. Around a week ago, the closure of Gasthof Hirschens in Eglisau made headlines. The owner of the traditional restaurant cited economic reasons for the decision. The local council is also criticized.
