The headquarters of the Brussels-based transportation group Ziegler, located along the canal in Neder-Over-Heembeek, is up for sale for 10.9 million euros. Ziegler did not own the building; it leased it through several banks, which decided to sell it.
On March 31, the Lille Commercial Court ordered the liquidation of the company’s French operations, affecting the Ziegler France branch and its subsidiary Satra. As a result, approximately 1,500 people lost their jobs.
In June, Ziegler Belgium filed for bankruptcy, putting another 400 jobs at risk. The Brussels hub, 2,600 m² of office space spread over four floors and a 6,500 m² warehouse with loading and unloading docks, is now up for sale. The Port of Brussels wants to make it a logistics project tied to the port again.
Acquisitions
The Brussels Commercial Court filed for bankruptcy the Belgian Ziegler Group, founded in 1908, which included four companies: Ziegler SA, Intertrans, Dornach, and Universal Express.
Meanwhile, however, the Wondelgem-based transportation company Tranuniverse Forwarding has taken over most of Ziegler Belgium’s operations, allowing dozens of employees to keep their jobs. This includes seven sites in Aalst, Antwerp, Brussels Expo, Kontich, Rekkem (LAR), Welkenraedt, and Zeebrugge.
Van Moer Logistics, in turn, acquired Ziegler’s air freight division at Brucargo, the cargo area at Brussels Airport.
‘Exceptional logistics site’
However, the headquarters of the Brussels-based transportation and logistics group, where Ziegler had been based since 2019, was not part of the bankruptcy. The company leased the property through banks, which have now decided to sell it.
The vacant building, currently managed by Entrakt, sits on land owned by the Port of Brussels. The Port promotes the site as an “exceptional logistics site” covering 9,311 m² in a prime location within the Brussels-Capital Region’s main logistics hub.
In addition to office space with a large panoramic terrace, the building, with solar panels on the roof, features a 10-meter-high storage area, four loading docks, a workshop with an unloading dock, and 250 underground parking spaces.
Anyone who wants to buy the building will have to pay 10.9 million euros. In addition, the buyer must pay an annual concession fee to the Port Authority.
According to Gert Van der Eeken, the Port’s director, finding interested candidates is not easy. “The intention is for it to be another logistics- and port-related project,” Van der Eeken told BRUZZ. “However, logistics companies usually don’t need that much office space.”
Suspicious financial flows
Ziegler had more than 3,200 employees worldwide across 16 countries. For example, operations in the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland did not go bankrupt but were placed under a management buyout structure with a British owner, Eaglets Holding.
Eaglets Holding had already acquired the former Ziegler operations in the UK and Ireland earlier this year, as well as those in South Africa.
According to the business newspaper L’Echo, a French attorney representing former Ziegler France employees is also preparing to file a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office over suspicious financial flows between subsidiaries and the failure to restructure the company in a timely manner.
