Earlier this week, the company announced that it is going into administration after being unable to pay its bills.

Franke & Heidecke develops products for the legendary Rolleiflex twin-lens camera system, plus it produces a 6x6 camera for both Sinar and Leaf, which respectively market the cameras under the Hy6 and AFi product names.

Many are now asking how this will affect Sinar and Leaf - especially as the two are currently in talks about co-distribution.

In September 2008, Franke & Heidecke partnered with Hans R Schmid Beteiligungs to finance an increase in its production of camera systems and lenses, after being forced to seek new investment. However, by January this year the company appeared to be running into trouble after it announced that its chief executive officer would leave the company following disagreements with the new partner, who had become the majority shareholder as part of the investment deal.

'In view of different views regarding past and future policies and cooperation with the new partner Hans R Schmid, Mr Bodo Fischer offered his resignation from the management of Franke & Heidecke, an offer that was accepted by the company,' Franke & Heidecke said in a statement.

Now, in a new statement, the company says it is being forced into administration. And, if the statement is to be taken at face value, Schmid is blameless:

'For majority shareholder Hans R Schmid, a devoted supporter of the company's products, who had described his commitment as a matter of personal importance, there was no alternative to filing for insolvency any more. Although it had already been obvious at the time of the take-over that a successful restructuring would cost substantial effort, Schmid accepted the responsibility and acted determinedly. Additional specialists were employed, weak points in the company were examined and millions were invested, et al, in production and quality management. Due to these measures quick progress could be made, however, the massive failures of the past could not be resolved in the required time.'

The second half of the statement is more ambiguous, insinuating that there were hidden debts, and perhaps hinting at the real reason for Fischer's departure: 'When recent financial and other old liabilities turned up, which had not been known to the new shareholder at the time of the take-over, it became evident that a financial reorganisation would not be possible even by investing further millions.'

It adds that 'negotiations with important business partners, banks and the attempt to obtain public funds failed', and ends with the suggestion that Schmid invested at least €10 million into the business: 'In spite of considerable risk of loss the new shareholder invested repeatedly until the very end and has preserved the company and the hope to maintain 131 jobs for a long time. Now the insolvency could not be avoided any longer. In total Schmid invested millions in the two-figure range.'

Check BJP-Online.com/news for further updates this week.