After more than one and a half year lasting search for a suitable strategic partner for VSŽ Foundry, focusing on the production of castings of grey cast iron, ductile cast iron, and cast steel (former VSŽ Inžiniering), the private equity group Penta has found a foreign strategic investor interested in development of the production of cast iron in the said company. SILBITZ GUSS GmbH is a new owner; which is a significant producer of foundry products in Germany belonging to the entrepreneur group DIHAG associating more than a dozen of production companies in Europe. VSŽ Foundry has over 350 employees. The strategic partner finally joined the Košice company VSŽ Foundry in the third quarter of 2005.
"Penta continues restructuring of companies belonging to Slovenský investičný holding (former VSŽ Košice) and fulfills its strategy of cleansing of the production companies and their sale to strategic investors,” stated the Director General of SIH, Anton Bittner, and added: “VSŽ Foundry is an important producer of castings of grey and ductile cast iron, and our objective has been to preserve not only production of but also jobs with the company.”
Assumption of VSŽ Foundry by Silbitz Guss, GmbH results from the main target of a new management, which represents efforts to make VSŽ Foundry a leader in the production of high-quality castings of ductile cast iron in the Eastern Europe.
VSŽ Foundry was one of subsidiaries of Slovenský investičný holding, a.s., a decisive shareholder of which is the Central European private equity group Penta.