A Copenhagen bankruptcy court declared two electricity companies and one gas company in the Velkommen group bankrupt on Friday. The court also rejected the owners’ preferred lawyer, Flemming Jensen, as trustee.
The electricity companies Velkommen and Vedvarende, along with the gas company B.energy, were declared bankrupt at a hearing in the Copenhagen bankruptcy court on the morning of August 7, 2026. DR reports that the formal decision took about 45 minutes.
The collapse follows months of criticism and police complaints against the companies. According to DR, large numbers of electricity and gas customers paid too much in advance, or aconto, payments and were then unable to get their money back. Angry customers have in recent months turned up at the companies’ address on Amager to demand refunds.
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Fight over the trustee
The main dispute in the courtroom was who should be appointed trustee and wind up the estates for creditors. Several partners from large Danish law firms opposed Flemming Jensen. Per Teis Gullitz-Wormslev, a partner at Kromann Reumert representing grid companies with outstanding claims, Jensen was not impartial enough for the role.
Jensen had spent recent weeks as reconstruction adviser for the Velkommen companies, chosen by owners Lars Hein and Thomas Søgaard-Andersen. As noted by Anders Stoltenberg, a partner at Sønderby Legal, there was a mixing of interests between Jensen and the ownership group. DR adds that Jensen has also been involved in bankruptcies in other companies belonging to the two owners.
Under Danish rules, creditors decide the trustee, with votes weighted by the size of their claims. Private customers, companies and public authorities holding claims of 232 million kroner backed three law firm partners. Creditors supporting Flemming Jensen held claims of 282 million kroner.
Ahead of the hearing, 584 consumers had sent powers of attorney to Andreas Boe Laulund of Kromann Reumert, so he could represent their opposition to Jensen in court. At a hearing just over a week earlier, Jensen had presented three previously unknown large claims that shifted the balance among creditors.
Two of those claims came from former owners. Magnus Kjøller, who sold his stake in Velkommen in 2024, claims 99 million kroner, while Morten Schwartz-Nielsen claims 74 million kroner. Both were part of the group backing Jensen, and the opposing partners questioned whether the losses were real.
After deliberating, the judge ruled that neither Kjøller’s nor Schwartz-Nielsen’s companies were entitled to vote. Jensen immediately appealed, so the High Court will decide the question. Until then, trustees from Gorissen Federspiel, Kromann Reumert and Poul Schmidt Advokater control the estates.
Newly appointed trustee Cathrine Wollenberg Zittan asked Thomas Søgaard-Andersen to hand over his work phone, computer and passwords. Another trustee, Preben Jakobsen of Gorissen Federspiel, described a large task ahead and said it was still hard to predict what would be left for private customers.
Private customers rank last when funds are distributed. DR reports that neither experts nor Forbrugerrådet Tænk expect much to remain after Gældsstyrelsen and a long list of companies are paid. Hein, Søgaard-Andersen and Jensen declined to comment after the hearing.
