Crisis claims first victim in furniture retail. Staer stores insolvent

Galaţi-based Staer Internaţional, owning a store network under this brand, as well as a production facility, entered insolvency after Galaţi Court of Law approved the company's petition, and is thus becoming the first such case of a top ten player on the furniture market.
"The insolvency was mainly brought about by the plummeting sales amid the economic crisis and by a series of external factors that hurt our commercial relations with foreign partners," said Mihaela Murariu, associate manager with Elva Cont of Bucharest, the court-appointed legal administrator. By edition close, Murariu had not explained, though, what she meant by the external factors.
Staer owns a production facility located in Galaţi and a 24-store network countrywide. The company is set to come up with a reorganisation plan in the following period.
There are no current data available on the company's debts, but in 2009 they amounted to 43.9m RON (10.4m euros), according to the Finance Ministry.
Contacted by ZF, Staer representatives did not make any comment by edition close.