Tashkent, Uzbekistan, April 29
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Assets of bankrupted LLC Spentex Toshkent Toytepa, Indian subsidiary Spentex Industries in Uzbekistan, were transferred to the National Bank of Foreign Economic Activity.
"The assets of Spentex Toshkent Toytepa transferred to the bank due to debt it owed NBU," a source in the government circles told Trend.
Three subsidiaries fully owned by bank - "Kukcha textile", "Toytepa textile" and "Marghilan BUYUK textile", which already started production activities have been created on the basis of Spentex Toshkent Toytepa, according to the source.
The Tashkent Economic Court declared Spentex Toshkent Toytepa bankrupt in May 2012, as it was unable to make payments on acquired assets in time, and could not bring Spentex Toshkent Toytepa to the planned production indices. As a result, the agreement with the investor was canceled and bankruptcy proceedings were initiated.
Last year assets of Spentex Toshkent Toytepa were put up at auction several times, but the deal did not take place due to a lack of applications.
In July 2006, Spentex Industries purchased the textile company "Tashkent Toytepa Textile" LLC from the Uzbek National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity for $81 million. According to the purchase-sale contract, the Indian company had to make payments on the amount of the transaction by late 2010.
The structure of "Tashkent Toytepa Textiles" included two cotton mills in the city of Toytepa (Tashkent region) and total capacity of 48,100 tons of cotton yarn in Tashkent and 23 million meters of gray fabrics per year.
Later Spentex bought a dyeing and finishing factory in Marghilan (Ferghana province), where the fabric produced in Tashkent and Toytepa was to be dyed.
In accordance with the sale contract with the NBU, the Indian company had to pay for the amount of the transaction before the end of 2010, however it could not. In 2010, the Uzbek government approved a restructuring scheme of payments for the remainder of the property complex, however, and this scheme has not been implemented either.
The Indian company believes that the main reason of non-payment is the Uzbek side `s violation of the terms of the investment agreement. The investor does not agree with the decision of the bankruptcy of its subsidiary and currently calls it in to question in international arbitration.
"Tashkent Toytepa textiles" LLC was established in July 2005 by the national bank and "Uzinterimpeks" State Joint Stock Foreign Trade Company on the basis of the Uzbek-Korean Kabool-Uzbek joint venture, which in its turn was also declared bankrupt and sold to repay the debt to the amount of $ 50 million. The initial cost of the Kabool-Uzbek joint venture's assets was $222 million.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by C.N.