LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), October 17 (SeeNews) – Slovenia sold a 92% stake in manufacturer of car components Cimos Group to Italy's TCH Cogeme, a unit of investment firm Palladio Holding Group, for 110 million euro ($121 million), Slovenia's 'bad bank' DUTB said.
The transaction between Cimos's main shareholders DUTB and state holding company SDH, and Italian TCH Cogeme was signed on Friday, DUTB said in a statement. The deal is expected to be closed in first quarter of 2017, when all condition precedents are fulfilled.
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Aside from local regulatory approval, the deal is also conditioned on agreement with the Croatian agency for deposit insurance and bank resolution due to Cimos's outstanding debt to a Croatian bank.
The sellers - 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% – gained their share holding in Cimos following a 168 million euro debt-to-equity conversion in 2014.
The privatisation is the last step in a long process towards Cimos's stabilisation, DUTB noted.
"In this extremely difficult sales process we managed to find a strategic partner who will support Cimos Group, have long term plans and have in the past successfully restructured several companies both in the automotive sector and in other industries", Lidija Glavina, president of DUTB's management board, is quoted as saying.
After the conclusion of the transaction TCH Cogeme will immediately provide Cimos with 20 million euro fresh capital in order to support and foster the planned investments for the modernization of Cimos production.
"We will do our best to gain as soon as possible new orders for Cimos that the company lacked in the last years, also due to its uncertain operational and financial situation. The existing key customers of Cimos are also willing to support us", Gino Berti, CEO of TCH Cogeme, also said.
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.
($=0.9091 euro)