Poland will buy Taruta factories for a tidy sum
The Polish Industrial Development Agency (ARP SA) announced the completion of the first, “most important” stage of negotiations on the buyout of Sergei Taruta’s share of the shipbuilding plant Gdańsk Shipyard SA and the manufacturer of towers for wind power plants GSG Towers Sp. z oo, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“On March 28 of this year, the parties signed an agreement (the so-called term sheet) regarding the main terms of the final transaction... Both parties agreed on the key terms of the transaction and on the schedule for the transition to ARP control of the companies,” ARP said in a statement on its website.
The state agency indicates that this was preceded by several weeks of intense negotiations, which began in January of this year, after ARP submitted an application to buy out assets from a Ukrainian investor.
Earlier, Taruta, in a comment to Hromadske, clarified that the negotiations were led by his daughter, since he is not currently engaged in business.
The ARP report noted that its offer to purchase was market-based, but did not provide any other details. According to the press release, the closing of the transaction remains subject to a number of conditions agreed to by both parties, including obtaining approval from the Polish competition authority.
ARP plans, after gaining control over the enterprises, to stabilize the situation at them and continue their activities in their main profile: shipbuilding and offshore wind energy.
The state agency clarifies that it currently owns 18,95% of Gdańsk Shipyard and 50% of GSG Towers, while the remaining shares and operational control belong to the Ukrainian investor.
The shipyard currently employs about 140 people and GSG Towers about 430, according to the release.
As reported, ISD Polska acquired a 76% stake in the Gdansk Shipyard in 2007. Later, the shipbuilding business was removed from the ISD corporation, and control over it was concentrated by S. Taruta. The Ukrainian investor and ARP had been arguing for many years about the need and methods of additional capitalization of the Gdansk Shipyard, which found itself in a difficult financial situation, as well as about the implementation of its restructuring plan. The state agency noted that failure to implement the restructuring plan could lead to a decision by the European Commission to return these funds, the total amount of which from 2004 to 2013 reached PLN550 million ($162,7 million UAH at the then exchange rate).
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