A newly-established glass manufacturing company named Slovglass Ltd (previously Slovglass Inc.) in Poltár in Banská Bystica region will resume production on March 1, with its new owners re-employing between 450 and 500 employees, the bankruptcy administrator’s advisor, Július Murín, told the TASR newswire on February 25.
“As soon as all creditors had approved the sale of the company, we began the sale process,” said Murín. The agreements should be signed and the sale finalised by the end of February.
According to Murín, the unspecified buyer from Bratislava, who already manages around 20 companies in Slovakia, will pay €1.6 million for the plant. The factory in Poltár and its subsidiary in Katarínska Huta, also in Banská Bystrica region, will continue to manufacture glass, although at lower levels than in the past, when Slovglass, Inc. was one of Slovakia’s largest glass manufacturers.
The new owners also intend to renew the tradition of glass-blowing in Zlatno near Poltár. The aim of this small-scale manufacturing operation is to support tourism by making the so-called 'glass-makers route' more attractive to tourists.
Slovglass went bankrupt in July 2008 due to the weak American dollar (as 90 percent of its production was exported), high energy prices and strong competition from Asia. The previous management wasn’t able to reverse the situation and announced mass layoffs in December 2008. 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.
