Alfacam was founded by Gabriel Fehervari, the child of Hungarian refugees, in 1985. It provided technical services such as cameras and outside-broadcast studios to TV producers. The company quickly established a strong reputation and won important contracts at home – beginning with the Night of the Proms – and abroad, picking up the contract in 2005 to provide services for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

The company went public in 2007, raising €35 million, the shares seeing an immediate rise on the first day of trading from €15.75 to €18. Last week, just before trading in Alfacam shares was suspended, those shares were worth 60 cents.

Fehervari’s ambition to launch a TV station of his own failed, which has led to the current state of the company. Exqi, as well as a set of digital channels, began badly in 2010 when only 20,000 people tuned in on opening night. Six months later, Exqi disappeared from the airwaves.

Alfacam went in search of new money: Fehervari himself put in €2 million, as did ING and the Flemish investment agency Gimv. Alfacam also received €20.5 million in loan guarantees from the Flemish government. In March of last year, the company’s bank creditors demanded the company come forward with fresh investments, and talk started of a takeover.

In December, Alfacam started talks with the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group. Last week, final talks failed. The commercial tribunal of Antwerp will decide what happens to the company: It could be broken up and sold off in parts or it could simply be declared bankrupt.

Fehervari is the main victim, with 40% of the company’s now-worthless shares. The Flemish government stands to lose €16.4 million in guarantees. The loss, however, will have “no immediate impact” on the taxpayer, according to Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters.