August 26 (SeeNews) - U.S.-based battery maker Exide is interested in taking part in a public tender for its insolvent Serbian peer Fabrika Akumulatora Sombor with a starting price of 12.5 million euro ($14 million), local media reported on Friday.
An unnamed Russian company too has made an unofficial enquiry about the tender, web portal eKapija reported, quoting Fabrika Akumulatora Sombor's trustee in bankruptcy, Predrag Ljubovi.
The assets on sale, which include production halls, office buildings, warehouses and an undeveloped land plot, are estimated at 25 million euro. The deposit for taking part in the public bidding is 5 million euro.
The battery maker is owned by insolvent Serbian conglomerate Farmakom MB, which acquired it in 2006.
Fabrika Akumulatora Sombor's operations were very successful until 2011. That year, it exported 10,000 car batteries and employed 820 workers. In 2012, however, production started to decline.
Earlier this month Farmakom MB's receiver put up for sale through public bidding properties worth 350 million dinars ($3.2 million/2.9 million euro).
($ = 0.8860 euro)