July 31 (SeeNews) - Slovenian state holding company SDH, which coordinates the privatization process in the country, said Wiltan Enterprises Limited is acquiring 95.1% of Elan as part of the sale of the Slovenian ski equipment manufacturer.
Merrill Lynch International will get the remaining equity, SDH said in a statement issued after the signing of the share sale and transfer agreement on Thursday.
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The state holding company is the owner of 49.03% of Elan. The remaining sellers of Elan equity are Triglav Nalozbe, DSU, and Modra Zavarovalnica.
The buyers, Merrill Lynch International and Wiltan Enterprises Limited, were selected as the best bidders, enabling Elan to continue to operate and to settle its relations with financial and other creditors, SDH said.
It added the buyers will strive to provide for Elan the necessary financial funds with the purpose of recovering the unlawful state aid in the sum of 12 million euro ($13.1 million) as requested by the European Commission in September 2012.
The Commission concluded at the time that capital injections granted to Elan constituted state aid, which was incompatible with EU rules and asked the Slovenian authorities to recover it.
Merrill Lynch International is a company owned by Bank of America Merrill Lynch International. Wiltan Enterprises Limited is owned by VR Global Partners.
In 2013, the ski maker was placed on a list of 15 state firms earmarked for privatization.
Elan's winter division makes skis and snowboards, the marine division manufactures sail yachts and power boats while the energy division produces key components for wind turbines. Elan Inventa is the company's services brand for sports facility equipment. All of Elan’s production facilities are located in central Europe. Skis and sail yachts are produced in Slovenia and snowboards in Austria.
($=0.9141 euro)