Embezzlement scandal rocks Hymer/Roadtrek North America

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
docj

docj

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Posts
1,840
For those who aren't aware, Erwin Hymer is Europe's largest motorhome manufacturer.  In 2016 Hymer purchased Roadtrek of Kitchner Ontario.  Last fall Thor announced an intent to purchase Hymer in a multi-billion euro deal.

Today, Hymer North America was rocked by a scandal which is said to involve over $100M in falsified invoices.  The impact of the scandal on the Thor acquisition is not yet known.

https://rvdailyreport.com/industry/erwin-hymer-north-america-rocked-by-scandal/
 
Two item...
ONE... Well if it turn out the company is not as well off. THOR may save several million if they choose to go through with the heavily discounted purchase.

TWO and though I will make no further reference thi is actually a political comment.

Ever notice how so many of those with wealth (THE Embezzler in this story) Always want MORE AND MORE AND MORE?
 
John From Detroit said:
Two item...
...Well if it turn out the company is not as well off. THOR may save several million if they choose to go through with the heavily discounted purchase.
Click to expand...

My suspicion is that the "due diligence" that would be required as part of the proposed acquisition of Hymer by Thor is what brought this to light. I've been through divestitures and acquisitions by public companies and the due diligence can be very thorough!

Now that the Hymer North America management team has been booted out Thor won't have to worry about issues related to retaining the old executives after the merger, etc.  ;D

As I recall from when I purchased a Roadtrek in 2000, I think it was a family-owned company at the time.  When Hymer bought Roadtrek in 2016 it probably installed executives to replace the family.  Those guys were ~5,000 miles away from the parent company (Hymer didn't really have a North American presence) so they decided to "feather their own nest".  "Out of sight, out of mind" as they say!  ;D
 
    As I reported in my string on the Tampa RV Show, I noticed a significant reduction in the quality of the roadtreks on display.  I guess the change in ownership and fraudulent activity might explain what is happening within the company.

Ed
 
docj said:
Now that the Hymer North America management team has been booted out Thor won't have to worry about issues related to retaining the old executives after the merger, etc.  ;D
Click to expand...

I guess there won't be any golden parachutes for the booted executives. But, the millions of dollars they've hidden in numbered offshore Cayman Islands bank accounts will probably make up for that.  :eek:
 
IBTripping said:
I guess there won't be any golden parachutes for the booted executives. But, the millions of dollars they've hidden in numbered offshore Cayman Islands bank accounts will probably make up for that.  :eek:
Click to expand...

Don't bet on it...It will part of the deal they work out to avoid court.
 
1) Thor closed its purchase of Hymer on Friday. Hymer North America was not included in the sale which was mostly financed by issuing stock in Thor to Hymer's owners.

2) Hymer has said that there were "reporting irregularities". That appears to mean inflating sales figures with fake sales of fake vehicles. Its possible money was involved, but that is not clear. They immediately laid off a bunch of newly hired employees at the Cambridge ON plant.

3) Following the sale of its parent company, the future of Hymer North America is up in the air with no real solid information from the company other than that they are continuing the audit started when the "irregularities" were discovered. That now apparently includes a company-wide inventory. There are also reports that they have at least temporarily stopped producing vehicles at the Cambridge plant that manufactures them under Hymer's brands, although with no announced further layoffs of employees. Roadtreks are produced in a separate facility.
 
I guess that's it!
https://rvdailyreport.com/industry/hymer-north-america-lays-off-entire-staff/
https://www.rvbusiness.com/blog/erwin-hymer-north-america-lays-off-900-workers.html

Both websites appear to be unreachable now as well:
https://erwinhymergroupna.com/
https://www.gohymer.com/

Very sad for the 800-900 employees that lost their jobs. Hate to think what that means for the Roadtrek and Hymer owners and warranties?
 
Fraud yes. Embezzlement ????

Not uncommon for a company about to be sold to try and make itself more attractive.

Alas. Does not always work out as planned since an Audit is usually part of the sale.

Executives being "Escorted out" is normal when an executive and company part company.
 
John From Detroit said:
Fraud yes. Embezzlement ????

Not uncommon for a company about to be sold to try and make itself more attractive.
Click to expand...

If you read the previous posts and other news stories you will see this was nowhere near "normal."  Apparently, the company has on its books fictitious VIN numbers of vehicles that were never built.  This wasn't something that was done in the few months preceding the acquisition by Thor; it has been going on for quite some time.  One article I read speculated that the embezzlement may have occurred by the payment of invoices to suppliers for parts that were never delivered for vehicles that didn't exist.  In other words invoices may have been fabricated to cover the cost of parts for the vehicles that didn't exist.  The number bandied about in trade news articles is $100M!
 
There were lots of rumors created during this process that seem to be just that, rumors. The current status is that Rapido, a European RV company, has agreed to purchase Roadtrek and intends to restart production and honor its warranties. As of now, there has been no public allegation of any criminal activity that confirm the rumors. I think this was a case of the people who were talking didn't know and the people who knew weren't talking. 
 
The last credible info I can find is from February and it indicates Hymer NA/Roadtrek is in receivership but no embezzlement took place, even though some records were falsified.  Lack of criminal intent probably makes no difference to Roadtrek owners, whose warranty depends on whether the buyer assumes that obligation (or not). That would be part of the purchase negotiation with Thor/Hymer and the bankruptcy court.
 
RossWilliams said:
There were lots of rumors created during this process that seem to be just that, rumors. The current status is that Rapido, a European RV company, has agreed to purchase Roadtrek and intends to restart production and honor its warranties.
Click to expand...

Have you heard what's going to happen to warranties for vehicles sold under the Hymer name in North America  other than those wearing a Roadtrek label?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,079 (members: 13, guests: 1,066)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,934
Posts
1,387,761
Members
137,684
Latest member
kstoybox
Back
Top Bottom