August 19 (SeeNews) - Slovenian home appliances maker Gorenje [LJE:GRVG] and its waste management unit Gorenje Surovina have signed an agreement to sell their majority shareholding in Publicus to the company HIS.
The agreement also covers subsidiary firm Ekogor. HIS already holds a 49% stake in Publicus.
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The agreement is the first step on the way to signing a share sale and purchase agreement which a newly founded company within the Gorenje Group and HIS will ink subject to fulfilment of the preconditions set forth in the agreement, Gorenje said in a statement.
The key preconditions include refinancing of the existing financial liabilities of Publicus and Ekogor backed by collateral provided by the Gorenje Group.
The agreed price for Gorenje's stake in Publicus, including the investment in Ekogor, is 3.6 million euro ($4 million). The new owner will assume all liabilities of the two companies, while Gorenje will, after receiving the purchase amount, deleverage by 6.5 million euro.
Gorenje Surovina covers the entire process from collection of waste to its transformation to refuse-derived fuel.
Gorenje turned to a consolidated net profit of 1.2 million euro in 2014 from a net loss of 25 million euro a year earlier as performance was impacted by the Ukrainian crisis and the depreciation of the rouble. The group’s revenues rose 0.4% to 1.24 billion euro in 2014.
($=0.9046 euro)