Many Applicants in Emco Sale

The sale process of Emco comes to an end. According to A-Tec´s liquidator, Matthias Schmidt, five binding offers were submitted. Among others, the Salzburg-based Kuhn Group and the owner of the largest Austrian newspaper, Christoph Dichand are potential buyers. The restructurer Erhard Grossnig and the investor Anton Stumpf are interested too.

However, only the Kuhn Group, the Linz-based WFL, a subsidiary of the German Autania and the Chinese Rifa Group are on the shortlist. Anton Stumpf does not expect to succeed, because Asian companies would be ready to pay a price significantly beyond the market value in order to gain access to Austria.

Schmidt wants to close the transaction before Christmas. The buyer of Emco has to take on debts amounting to € 60m, the market value is estimated to reach € 60m. This year, Emco´s sales are estimated to amount to € 135m, profits reached € 10m. Emco employs 630 workers.

Schmidt puts pressure on the sale process because of A-Tec´s CEO and founder, Mirko Kovats. Emco was the cornerstone for the later A-Tec Group. Schmidt already filed a lawsuit against Kovats, who is convinced to have a preemption right. Kovats already explained: “I want to become the owner of Emco.” Currently, Kovats holds 0.9% in Emco and plans to increases the stake up to 100%. Hence, Schmidt claims a declarative statement that Kovats has no preemption right for Emco.