Rogaska Glassworks Comes Out of Bankruptcy Protection

Slovenia´s once proud glassworks from Rogaska Slatina has got some of its shine back by emerging from bankruptcy protection proceedings. General manager of Steklarna Rogaska Robert Licen told the press in Rogaska Slatina on Wednesday, 6 December that the proceedings which started almost exactly a year ago had been completed successfully.

The success is a major achievement for Steklarna Rogaska that only last year posted losses of SIT 1.8bn (EUR 7.5m) and owed around EUR 53m to its creditors, including several Slovenian banks. According to Licen, the company paid all creditors but two banks by the deadline. The development comes after the Julius fund, owned by the asset management firm Zvon, acquired the glassworks for SIT 2.5bn (EUR 10.43m) on Monday, 4 December.

The Julius fund spent an additional SIT 1bn (EUR 4.17m) on a capital increase that allowed the beleaguered glassworks to repay all of its outstanding bankruptcy protection claims. Meanwhile, general manager of the Julius fund Leo Ivanjko said that his company move was not speculative, as it has long-term interests in the world-famous glassworks.

Ivanjko explained that his company had purchased the claims of the creditors, but refused to specify the value of the deals. Licen added that the company, which employs 970 people, will end the year without a loss.

Moreover, he promised that it would pay the pension and health insurance contributions for its employees for the previous two years over the coming two years. Steklarna Rogaska filed for bankruptcy protection at the beginning of 2005 in a last-ditch attempt to deal with an increasingly dire situation that had seen it run up huge debts with banks.

At the time, the management estimated Steklarna Rogaska´s debts at SIT 12.6bn (EUR 52.6m), including over SIT 9bn (EUR 37.5m) owed to banks. The shareholders - mostly former and current workers - approved a plan for debt conversion at the end of August 2005, opening the door for bankruptcy protection