Dear Sir or Madam,
For several weeks now, we have noticed that the credit insurer ATRADIUS has stopped granting new credit limits for both Heinrich Spahn GmbH & Co. KG and W. Hartmann & Co. (GmbH & Co. KG). The reasons given include statements such as:
- “The basis (…) is the balance sheet dated 31 March 2019 available to us.”
- “This shows high financial expenses in relation to operating profit.”
- “This shows high liabilities in relation to equity.”
Or, even more bizarrely: “The basis (…) is confidential information that we are unable to disclose.”
We have repeatedly tried to find out what kind of information this refers to (we would be happy to provide you with the relevant email correspondence upon request). Unfortunately, without success. Presumably, the information is so confidential that they do not even want to share it with us.
As all other credit insurers have no difficulty whatsoever in providing the credit limits required, our banks are completely relaxed about the situation and we also have sufficient liquid funds to settle all our invoices within the agreed cash-discount periods, we have to assume that Atradius is working with incorrect figures – perhaps entered into the system at some point by a trainee who had not had enough sleep.
To be honest, we do not particularly care whether Atradius insures us or not. We can manage perfectly well without them.
However, so that you, as a supplier affected by Atradius, do not lose any sleep over your business relationship with us, we can offer the following solutions:
- For individual transactions, we can settle your invoices in advance in return for an additional 1% cash discount.
- For ongoing business, we can provide you with bank guarantees from four German banks for the amount required. These would, however, be subject to interest at 3% p.a.
Please note that in both cases, you would no longer have to pay any insurance premiums to Atradius.
Naturally, we also have to work within the limits of what we can actually provide. Taken together, therefore, these advance payments and guarantees should not exceed €5 million.
Yours sincerely,
Roland Spahn