Zarea sells assets to pay debts

Sparkling wine producer Zarea Bucharest is planning to sell some of its assets as part of an extensive restructuring programme that began after its takeover by German producer Schloss Wachenheim and in order to pay some of its debts to the state. “We are selling or leasing a number of assets to pay part of our debts to the state, but also because we are focusing Zarea’s production on a single location. We have reduced our number of production lines from three to one because it is better to have one line operational for an entire year instead of three lines working only 100 days a year each,” said Emil Popescu, general manager of Karom Drinks Bucharest (held by Schloss Wachenheim), Zarea Bucharest’s majority shareholder. Zarea’s total debts amounted to more than 2.5 million euros for the first half of this year. Popescu says Zarea made a series of smaller investments in new production lines, after takeover by the German company, which will allow for bottling in a wider range of bottles and the application of new labels. ZF