TFG portfolio suffers

German venture capital investor, TFG Venture Capital has written off two of its portfolio companies – Gastrofix, a developer of PC-based hotel and restaurant software and Inline, an integrated professional training company have both filed for bankruptcy. The continuing weak economic situation in the second half of last year also saw other companies in TFG’s portfolio fall well short of their targets.

In 2001, TFG wrote down its portfolio by around €105.2 million. The firm wrote down €48.2 million in the fourth quarter alone, booking a loss of €11.3 million on German investment bank Concord Effekten.

Managing board member, Michael Stallman said that TFG would not continue to finance its ailing companies as sole investor. “If no other investors can be found, this decision may lead to further bankruptcies.”

SDAX-listed TFG has access to over €34.4 million in cash reserves. The firm’s revenues in the past fiscal year dropped significantly to a total of €13.5 million and TFG’s managing board is still not anticipating any sustained market recovery in the current fiscal year. “As things stand, we would be doing extremely well if we managed to end the year in the black,” said board member Jürgen Leschke. But he remains positive: “We have used the time to carry out internal restructuring and reorientation. Our high cash reserves mean that we are well able to ride out the current slump.”