Ostrava, North Moravia, May 2 (CTK) – Vitkovice Machinery Group (VMG) engineering company of entrepreneur Jan Svetlik sold another two subsidiaries – Vitkovice Doprava and Vitkovice HTB, Vitkovice spokeswoman Eva Kijonkova told CTK today.
The companies have not published price of the transactions.
Vitkovice Doprava operating rail freight transport was acquired by Tatra Aviation, a unit of Czechoslovak Group of Michal Strnad, zdopravy.cz website said today.
The new owner of Vitkovice HTB, a fire extinguishers maker, is EPPO servis company operating in the same field.
VMG has sold Vitkovice Recycling, Vitkovice Heavy Machinery and Vitkovice Gearworks this year.
The sale of the companies is connected to VMG’s long-term stabilisation plan, with some of its units ending up in bankruptcy in 2016, Kijonkova said.
The goal is to boost production, finish reorganisation at some companies, and creating room for cooperation between the former parent company and subsidiaries on a new basis where Vitkovice a.s. is no longer a guarantee for the sold companies, Kijonkova said.
The sale changes Vitkovice’s structure radically as it gets rid of the subsidiaries’ dependence on the Vitkovice a.s. relationship with banks, while maintaining business, know-how and jobs, said Michaela Zvakova, the head and board chairwoman of Vitkovice a.s., an umbrella for energy, legal, logistics and other services for the entire engineering group.
Last month, Vitkovice Gearworks, declared bankrupt in August 2016, was as part of the approved reorganisation plan acquired by companies Optifin Invest and Farvis which is linked to E-Invest company of Martin Ulcak.
Ulcak bought VMG’s Hutni montaze last year.
SPV VTK company owned by Czechoslovak Group’s founder Jaroslav Strnad, bought into Vitkovice Heavy Machinery, which filed an insolvency petition in March, as a part of the so-called pre-packed reorganisation.
Vitkovice Recycling has been sold to Zberne suroviny Zilina, with the transaction being settled and the company changing name to SPV Recycling CZ, Kijonkova said.
VMG, including companies Vitkovice Hammering, Vitkovice IT Solutions and Vitkovice Mechanika, has about 2,000 employees. Three years ago, the group employed over 8,000 people.