Begunje na Gorenjskem, 24 December (STA) - Three years after being acquired by a foreign financial investor, Slovenia's sports goods maker Elan has been sold to the Finnish-owned asset manager KJK. The sale is expected to be completed in mid-2019 once it gets the green light from the Slovenian competition watchdog.
Elan said in a press release on Monday that the owner, Wiltan Enterprises of the financial fund VR Capital, had signed a contract on the sale of the outright stake in Elan to a company owned by the Luxembourg-based KJK Fund III.
The company based in Begunje na Gorenjskem was bought by Wiltan Enterprises from state owners in July 2015 after years of financial troubles, and the owners have been looking lately to sell to a strategic partner.
Since 2015, the outgoing owner Wiltan Enterprises has reinvested almost EUR 10m in Elan, and despite fears of layoffs under the new financial investor, Elan's headcount in fact increased to some 800, CEO Jeffrey Tirman said in April.
Wiltan Enterprises announced the sale this spring as they received expressions of interest after the company, which has been producing sports goods for more than 70 years, posted good results.
The company best known as a producer of skis reported EUR 82.5m in group revenue for last year, an increase of 15% over the year before, as well as an increase in operating profit.
The new owner, established this year with EUR 250m in private capital, is focused on investments in the Balkans and the Baltic states and is already present in Slovenia with investments in several companies.
It belongs to KJK Management, a manager of alternative investment funds, which is also based in Luxembourg and was established in 2010.