Velenje, 08 May (STA) - Household appliance maker Gorenje said it received three binding bids by potential strategic partners from Asia by today's deadline. It announced it will reveal more within a week, since it first needs to examine the bids with some of the major shareholders.

Denis Oštir, the corporate communications director at Gorenje, told the STA that three binding bids are good news for the company and shareholders.

"All three companies decided to submit bids for strategic cooperation after having conducted due diligence. We'll examine the bids now at Gorenje together with some major owners who participate in the search for a strategic partner and are bound by secrecy," Oštir said.

Due diligence was conducted at Gorenje by three potential strategic partners, all of them from Asia, while non-binding bids had been submitted by four companies.

According to unofficial information obtained by the newspaper Finance, two major Chinese manufactures, Haier and Hefei Meiling, were among the bidders.

Potential investors were invited to bid for a controlling stake of 50% plus 1 share of Gorenje.

The working bodies of the company's supervisory board are meeting today and on Wednesday, while the board will hold a session on Thursday.

The supervisory board will discuss Gorenje's first quarter results and potential binding bids from strategic partners, among other things.

Gorenje's largest single owner is state-run fund KAD (16.7%), followed by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank (11.8%), Panasonic Corporation (10.7%), a holder of a fiduciary account with the Polish KDPW with (7.7%) and Home Products Europe (5%).