The deal, which also includes the plant’s 10-hectare plot of land, was made via one of the companies in Topolinski’s Benevo group, Blue Diamond, and its partner Autoplast. It came with the obligation for the buyers to continue making pumps and keep at least 200 employees for three years.
“Benevo intends to invest capital and its expertise to relocate the business in Bucharest to a more technologically advanced factory and employ a minimum of 200 people and to grow the pump manufacturing business from where it is today,” said Michael Topolinski, president of Benevo.
Benevo also acquired the industrial sites of Textila Dacia (in the Bucurestii Noi neighborhood, NW Bucharest) and Vulcan (Rahova, SW Bucharest) in 2008 and 2012 to build shopping centers that have yet to materialize.
Topolinski did not say what exactly he planned to build on the Aversa land located between Piata Obor and the nearby Kaufland hypermarket, but a new shopping center is not out of the question.
Neither the businessman nor the representatives of RVA Insolvency, the court-appointed liquidator of Aversa, revealed the value of the deal. The plot of land might be worth at least EUR30 million to EUR35 million, considering the liquidation price of EUR300 to EUR350 per square meter.
Once a flagship company of the Romanian industry with a history a 131 years behind it, Aversa is now controlled by Romania’s privatization authority AAAS. It went insolvent in 2006 and the number of employees has gone down from more than 1,000 to about 200.
After filing for bankruptcy it could no longer conduct business as usual and continued to operate by renting its assets to Industrialexport.
“Aversa has a great and long tradition in Romania with solid potential for export growth,” Topolinski said.
Its products can be used both in the energy industry and in agriculture, a sector badly affected by the lack of irrigation systems.
Aversa SA posted less than EUR1 million revenue in 2012, according to the Finance Ministry website.
Many plants in Bucharest have been acquired by real estate investors over the years, who replaced them with malls, office or apartment buildings.
One successful case of relocation after the sale of its former site is Timpuri Noi, now operating in the town of Jilava near Bucharest.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)