Palladio Finanziaria gives up on Cimos

The Italian fund Palladio Finanziaria from Vicenza has withdrawn from the preliminary contract under which it was supposed to purchase Cimos, a company from Kopar, because the negotiations between the Slovenian and Croatian parties did not fulfill the main condition – before entering the ownership to resolve the issue of Cimos' debt to former Rijecka banka, which was taken over by the Croatian State agency for deposit insurance and bank resolution (DAB), announced RTV Slovenia on Monday (20 February 2017) citing unofficial sources.

The Kopar company, which manufactures parts for the automobile industry, did not wish to comment on the news for the moment.

Nor was there a reaction from the Slovenian “bad bank” that negotiated with DAB on taking over part of the financial obligations towards DAB, nor from Zdravko Pocivalsek, the Slovenian minister who on several occasions in the last few weeks has negotiated a resolution of this issue with the Croatian minister of state property Goran Maric, and who until recently was giving optimistic statements that the agreement would be finalised within a few days, Slovenian media reported.

Slovenian radio said that the union chiefs in Cimos were disappointed with these recent developments, but that they had expected them and believe that the company had been poorly managed in the last few years.

According to Slovenian media reports, the withdrawal of the Italian investor does not mean that Cimos and its companies in Istria will immediately fall into bankruptcy, because previous contracts will ensure work until the end of the year. However, Cimos was supposed to make new deals with its suppliers in the coming days but after the withdrawal of the Italian investor this is now brought into question.

Ministers Pocivalsek and Maric agreed earlier that the issue of Cimos' debt to former Rijecka banka whose principal is €20 million should be resolved out of court, in such a way that the Slovenian “bad bank” DUTB buys the debt for €7 million. Later, there were allegedly problems with interpretation of their agreement, over whether Palladio Finanziaria should guarantee that Cimos' three production plants in Istria do not reduce the number of staff and workload in next two years, and whether a legal obligation of the Italian investor is required or just their promise to try to implement this.

Translation provided by: www.halifax-translation.com

Cimos d.d. Kopar

Cimos

Palladio Finanziaria

Rijecka banka

Croatian State agency for deposit insurance and bank resolution

DAB Croatia

Bank Assets Management Company

DUTB Slovenia

Cimos bankruptcy

Cimos privatization

sale of Cimos

Zdravko Pocivalsek

Goran Maric

Government of Croatia

automotive industry

car industry

car components