State secretary Aleš Canterutti said after Thursday's government session that the government took stock of Cimos's situation. The government supports the deal reached between Slovenia and Croatia, and hopes that the car parts manufacturer can still be sold to Italian equity fund Palladio Finanziaria.

The government supports the deal reached between Slovenia and Croatia regarding Cimos's old debts in Croatia. This now paves the way for the sale of Cimos to the Italian equity fund. According to Canterutti, the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) and the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC), Slovenia's bad bank, are still in talks with the Italian buyer over the sale of Cimos.

The deal between Slovenia and Croatia would see BAMC acquire Cimos's bad loans from the Croatian Agency for Bank Resolution for seven million euros. Croatia will, in turn, withdraw a lawsuit filed against Slovenia.

Croatia wanted Palladio Financaria to preserve all jobs in Cimos' Croatian subsidiaries over the next two years, but Canterutti said that this is not explicitly stipulated in the agreement: "The agreement only says that the Italian buyer will try to preserve as many jobs as possible in all of Cimos's subsidiaries."

Slovenia and Croatia will sign the aforementioned agreement within the next few days. We will then find out whether Palladio Finanziaria is still interested in buying the Koper-based car parts manufacturer.

Z. B. (RA SLO); translated by D. V.