Hellweg Group Opens Insolvency Process for BayWa Bau & Garten Stores
The court-supervised turnaround could force closures of stores without buyers by the end of November 2026 and put roughly 1,300 jobs at risk.
Overview
- The Amtsgericht Essen opened an Eigenverwaltung insolvency on August 26, 2026, and appointed lawyer Stefan Denkhaus as the court trustee to oversee the restructuring.
- Since early September large clearance sales have run in many BayWa and Hellweg outlets, with reports listing about 30 affected stores across Bavaria and broad reductions in stocked merchandise.
- A total of roughly 46 sites in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are involved and about 1,300 employees are affected, with the companies stating wages will be paid through November.
- Company officials say some individual stores already have investors or continuation plans but many remain without buyers and will close if no solution is found by the end-November 2026 deadline.
- Hellweg cites weak consumer demand, higher energy and rent costs, supply-chain strains and a soft construction market as causes; the BayWa-branded stores were sold to Hellweg in 2012 and the case mirrors trouble across Germany’s DIY sector.