$2m deal in glass industry

China factory IRIS SA based in Cluj-Napoca, which had been declared bankrupt, was bought by glassmaker Geromed (Medias) for $2 million plus VAT on Monday. The factory was purchased at an auction organised by IRIS’ liquidator, consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consultants, in order to sell the assets of the bankrupt company. Six potential investors had initially stated interest to buy the assets in question, one of which was Italian: Portelanul Dorohoi, Fine Porcelain SRL Dorohoi, Richard Ginori 1735 SPA (Florence, Italy), Alianta SA Huedin, Sinterom SA Cluj-Napoca and Geromed SA Medias. The bids announced by the investors were worth $1,700,000 to $2,000,000 plus VAT. In the end, the only one to have actually submitted all the required documents plus a letter of guarantee for 10% of the amount bid by the deadline was Geromed Medias. Geromed was therefore the only bidder at the auction on Monday and bought all the assets for $2,000,000 plus VAT. IRIS had posted 14bn ROL loss in the first half last year, while its turnover was of $12bn. Its shares were once listed on RASDAQ, but were suspended from trading in mid June and the company went into judicial reorganisation. ZF