An auction of the horses owned under the Eurocommerce name concluded on April 7. London, the horse Gerco Schröder rode to team and individual silver at the 2012 London Olympic Games, sold for 8.6 million euros, or $11.8 million.
Dutch owners Gaston and Kathrin Glock bought London and have announced that Schröder will retain the ride. Gaston Glock is the founder of the Glock firearms company and also owns dressage horses for Dutch riders Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud.
“I am so incredibly happy that there really are not words to describe. That the Glock family has bought London and we will stay together is the greatest gift ever,” said Schröder in a statement on the Glock Horse Performance Center website. “This is an ideal outcome for me and also for my country, because London and I may continue to start for the Netherlands.”
In the fall of 2012, Eurocommerce head Ger Visser declared personal bankruptcy, admitting that he fraudulently borrowed 55 million euros from his business. The Rabobank bank took Visser to court for outstanding debt. Visser tried to avoid dispersal of the Eurocommerce horses by selling them to his son, but a judge nullified that sale.
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Rabobank got court approval for a dispersal auction of all the Eurocommerce holdings, including horses, farmland and all equipment. The auction concluded on April 7. The total proceeds of the auction exceeded 11 million euros, or $15 million.
The auction lot also included Schröder’s former mount and now breeding stallion Eurocommerce Berlin for 122,000 euros; Eurocommerce New Orleans, who sold for 210,000 euros; Vingino, a stallion, for 305,000 euros; and Seoul for 307,5000 euros.
Saudi rider Abdullah Sharbatly was reported to have bought three horses in the auction—Schröder’s former rider Callahan, Wout van der Schan’s former ride Sacramento and Albert Voorn’s former ride Tobalio.
Some older retired geldings were also included in the sale, such as the 25-year-old Les Etoiles, who sold for just 450 euros.
