Singer likely to buy PPI arm
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.ISTANBUL (Reuter) - Singer, the leading US manufacturer and marketer of sewing machines, is the front-runner for the majority stake in Vestel, Polly Peck International's Turkish electronics and durables subsidiary, industry sources said.
Polly's administrators, Coopers & Lybrand, are expected to sell the 51 per cent stake in Vestel to Singer. The proceeds of the Vestel sale will go to creditors of Polly Peck, who are owed more than pounds 1.3bn.
In London, Coopers made no comment except to say they were talking to a number of potential buyers.
The sources said the administrators were expected to obtain approval from the creditors' committee due to the large amount involved in the deal, although it did not need to do so.
They gave no indication of how much the deal was worth.
In August, Vestel officials said negotiations were under way with European and Japanese firms for the stake, increased from a previous 25 per cent when no buyers emerged.
Vestel is the leading Turkish exporter of durables and electronics and the second-largest seller of these products within Turkey. The company raised its profits to 43.26bn lira ( pounds 3.5m) in the first half of this year, from 34.04bn in the same period of 1991. Assets were boosted by 53 per cent to 1,600bn lira in the first six months.
In June, Vestel sold 25 per cent stakes in its whitegoods producing and distributing units to Philco, a subsidiary of Italy's Merloni Elettrodomestici, for pounds 5m.
The company, which raised its capital to 391.5bn lira this year from 270bn, is investing almost pounds 10m to increase whitegoods capacity to one milion units from 150,000.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments