THE CREDITORS’ committee of the bankrupt chemical company NCHZ did not approve the sale of the company to the only bidder, M-Energo, at a meeting on November 24, the SITA newswire reported.
M-Energo had offered €2 million for the bankrupt company.
“We will wait to see how the state, the official receiver of assets or the courts deal with it legally,” the owner of M-Energo, Miroslav Remeta, told SITA.
The only known opponent of the sale of NCHZ to M-Energo was the government's privatisation agency, the National Property Fund (FNM). It is concerned that if the chemical company is sold it will lose any chance of having its claim exceeding €22 million satisfied.
The state could also buy NCHZ. Based on the law on strategic companies adopted by the previous government, the state can outbid M-Energo and thus purchase the assets of the bankrupt strategic company. However, Economy Minister Juraj Miškov has previously stated that the government does not plan to use the law on strategic companies in the case of NCHZ, SITA wrote.
Prime Minister Iveta RadiÄŤová said the important thing for her is that 1,800 NCHZ employees do not lose their jobs and that there is enough money to satisfy even those claims that are not covered, so that no layoffs are needed.
“We are looking for solutions to restructure the chemical company and if 300 to 400 employees are laid off due to the restructuring we should be able to provide jobs in new industrial parks in this region,” she said, as quoted by SITA.
According to Ä˝ubomír Jahnátek, the former economy minister who currently serves as an MP for the opposition Smer party, the creditors have actually approved the sale of NCHZ to M-Energo, and Remeta is only trying to calm the public and allow time to finalise the sale quietly, SITA reported.
