Merger of Vistula & Wolczanka and W.Kruk to be completed

2008-12-01

On 26 November a general shareholders’ meeting of the clothing producer Vistula & Wolczanka (V&W) confirmed the merger with the jewellery producer W.Kruk. The exchange parity between W.Kruk and V&W was set at 2.4.
W.Kruk will be absorbed into V&W and will be withdrawn from the stock exchange by the end of this year. The financial results of the group, which will operate under the Vistula Group name, will be consolidated from the beginning of 2009 onwards.
At present V&W is negotiating with several banks to take over company’s loan of PLN 300m (€79.8m) which was taken out with Fortis Bank in order to acquire the jewellery firm. The group must pay off the PLN 250m (€66.5m) debt by the end of the year. However, Fortis has not ruled out some form of bridging loan and might also agree to render as much as PLN 80m (€21.3m) of the loan long term.