One of four biggest meat-packing plants in Slovakia, PM Zbrojníky, reported that the present owner had signed a share purchase agreement with the new investor, private equity group Penta. Penta is at present preparing a filing to the Antimonopoly Office of the SR in order to obtain consent with the transaction. Penta will acquire 75 % of shares of the company and its total investments in PM Zbrojníky will reach 250 million SKK.
"Producers in the meat industry are still not consolidated sufficiently, specializations are absent, and all of them have been doing everything. We perceive joining PM Zbrojníky as an investment opportunity for a prospective development of the meat industry in a bigger Central European market. We intend to establish a well-connected complex of producers that will also operate in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland," said Eduard Maták, Investment Director of Penta.
Penta intends to invest in the project of the meat industry up to 2 billion SKK from its internal resources; moreover, Penta intends to obtain approximately 5 billion SKK by means of refinancing from banks. In PM Zbrojníky, Penta wishes very soon and after agreement with the present majority shareholder Mr. Ján Kováčik, provide for refinancing of a credit portfolio and aim at reduction of a wide assortment of products. “It is required to change a structure of production, introduce a specialization so that PM Zbrojníky focuses on those products that are potential to become the best. Predominantly, it concerns the production of thermally processed meat products”, said Eduard Maták.
Basic information
- PM Zbrojníky is one of the four biggest meat producers with estimated 8% market share. Market shares of the other three most important companies are approximately 25 %, 10 %, and 10 %.
- The company currently has 527 employees
- Total revenues as at 31 December 2005 reached 1,400 million SKK
- The company has a large volume of overdue liabilities and insufficient working capital
- The company has a license to export to EU countries, Russia, and Switzerland.
- The company was incorporated in 1993 together with a slaughterhouse, meat production and canning factory; all those three entities had existed as three separate companies in the past. In the course of the last two years, the said companies have merged into PM Zbrojníky, a.s.
- The company has the HACCP system, in 2002 it gained ISO 9001/2000 certificate.
As one of the first plants, PM Zbrojníky has fulfilled the strict EU criteria. In August 2005, the operation slaughterhouse Zbrojníky obtained the ISO certificate of the renowned company SGS, permitting the company to export raw meat and packed meat to Switzerland.