Air Berlin administrator sues KPMG in England
The administrator of a bankrupted German airline has hit Big Four giant KPMG with legal proceedings at an English court, City AM can reveal.
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs was once Germany’s second-largest airline and one of Europe’s top 10 largest airlines in terms of passenger numbers.
The airline group was a UK public limited company registered in London.
Etihad Airways was the largest shareholder in Air Berlin, followed by the owners of Pegasus Airlines. The company went through financial issues, and after Etihad stopped its financial support in 2016, the group recorded an overall loss of €782m.
At the time, the German government provided a €150m bridging loan to help maintain flight operations while it tried to find buyers.
However, the company’s financial situation didn’t improve, and it ended up filing for insolvency in August 2017. It ceased operations that November.
German lawyer Lucas Flöther was appointed as the airline’s administrator.
The bankrupt airline was in and out of the German and English courts after the administrator sued Etihad Airways for €2bn for its role in the bankruptcy.
In England, the case reached the Supreme Court but was refused after the previous court sided with the Abu Dhabi airline.
Now, the administrator is back, launching legal action against KPMG.
According to the company’s annual reports, KPMG was listed as the group’s auditors.
The case was filed to the Commercial Court of the High Court, and is listed as a general contract and arrangement claim. The bankrupted airline enlisted US law firm White & Case for its case.
A KPMG UK spokesperson told City AM: “We will robustly defend the claim which we believe lacks merit.”
The administrator of Air Berlin were approached for a comment.