According to Ján Martina, the head of the local government in the town of Nováky, the municipality welcomes the decision of creditors of Nováky Chemical Works (NChZ) to try to sell the company, which went bankrupt in October, he told the TASR newswire on May 17.
According to Martina, it is important that the situation of NChZ be stabilised because the chemical works are the town’s important strategic partner and a significant payer of real estate tax. He added that it is necessary to sell the company as a whole because that is the only guarantee of preserving the employment of approximately 1,800 people, many of whom live in Novaky.
NChZ filed for bankruptcy and protection from its creditors at Trenčín District Court in October because of what it called the “insensitive stance of the European Commission” and the level of a fine it imposed on the company.
The firm was one of nine European companies fined by the Commission last July for entering into a cartel agreement concerning sales of calcium carbide. The overall fine amounted to €61 million and NChZ and its former shareholder 1. garantovaná were ordered to pay €19.6 million as its share.
NChZ was given the status of so-called strategic enterprise by the Slovak state in November and if the state interests are endangered it is willing to buy the company itself, TASR reported.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
