LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), April 21 (SeeNews) – Italy's TCH Cogeme, a unit of investment firm Palladio Holding Group, has agreed to purchase a 92% stake in Slovenia's ailing car parts maker Cimos Group, after pulling out of a deal in February, media reported on Friday.
The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of next month following a supervisory board meeting and a meeting of Cimos' shareholders, Slovenian news portal Dnevnik reported.
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The takeover will be carried out on the basis of a restructuring deal with the creditors of Cimos and a sale contract negotiated behind closed doors in the last month and a half.
In February, TCH Cogeme said it has suspended a deal for the purchase of Cimos following a disagreement between Cimos and the Croatian Agency for Deposit Insurance and Bank Resolution (DAB), towards which the company has an unpaid debt.
Some 15 years ago, Cimos took out a loan from Rijecka banka - a Croatian lender which later ceased to exist and its claims were taken over by DAB.
According to Dnevnik, Slovenia will now service its debt to Croatia with 7 million euro ($7.5 million).
Privatisation is seen as the last step in a long process towards Cimos' stabilisation, Slovenia's 'bad bank', DUTB, said earlier. The sellers of the company are DUTB with a 47.5% share, the Slovenian government with a 24.26% stake and lenders NLB with 9.44%, Gorenjska Banka with 5.74%, Abanka Vipa with 2.42%, Nova KBM with 2.2% and SID Banka with 0.74%. They gained their shareholding interest in Cimos following a 168 million euro debt-to-equity swap in 2014.
The Koper-headquartered group manufactures mainly turbo compressor and turbine housings, power train components, chassis and car-body parts. Cimos has a production footprint in four countries across Southeast Europe.
($=0.934389 euro)