Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Jan. 16
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The assets of the Samarkand lift building plant were bought by the Uzbek-Turkish joint venture Sam Antep Gilam at auction, a representative of Uzeltekhprom JSC told Trend. The cost of the transaction was not disclosed.
A new company "Samarkand Euro Asia Lift", which will preserve the profile of the plant's activity, is expected to be established on the basis of the enterprise.
The Samarkand Regional Economic Court declared Samarkand lift building plant JSC bankrupt in May 2014.
A bankruptcy petition was filed by shareholders of "Peresvet Invest" JSC, which was the main shareholder of the plant due to the company's financial insolvency.
All claims of creditors towards the debtor were granted by late 2014. The bankruptcy procedure completed, the court's decision made public in the local media says.
The investment and realtor company Peresvet-Invest ZAO (Moscow) bought in 2007 some 75 percent of the shares in the Samarkand Elevator Building Plant JSC for $1.3 million as part of a tender for the sale of this package, announced by Uzbekistan's State Property Committee.
Under a purchase and sale contract, the Peresvet-Invest was to invest $7.5 million in the enterprise's development throughout five years, including for the modernization and expansion of the capacities for manufacturing main production, i.e. cargo and passenger elevators.
The investment commitments were met in full, the company managed to load the plant's capacities and reach the profit making status in 2009.
However, since 2010 the plant has operated only at a loss.
Peresvet-Invest ZAO also stated about its plans in the real estate sector.
It was expected that the company will invest up to $50 million in the construction and this will allow it to construct offices and malls in Tashkent with the total area of over 130,000 square meters. However, these plans were not implemented.
Samarkand Elevator Plant was commissioned in 1975. Its design capacity is 7,000 cargo, ship and passenger elevators a year.
Iran's Condor Co. purchased 75 percent of the plant's shares for $1 million in September 2005 and pledged to invest $27 million in its development. However, the State Property Committee of Uzbekistan terminated the sale and purchase contract in early 2006, as Iranian investor didn't fulfill its investment obligations.
The plant was the largest enterprise in its sector in Central Asia. Around 120,000 elevators of the plant are operated in the post-Soviet countries.
Edited by CN