1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148 
Chloride sells bide Europe
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Chloride has sold its lossmaking automotive battery group, Exide Europe, for 215.7 million to the Malaysian Wanandi Group and British venture capitalists Alan Patricof Associates and Porter Investments.
Two weeks ago, following reduced profits, the group sold its motive-power battery business to French battery maker CEAC for £55 million.
The new Exide Europe consortium will continue to produce car and truck batteries, says spokesman John Porter. The slimmed-down operation at Dagenham now employs 600.
Chloride will take on Exide's debts (it has not turned in profit for more than a decade) which in 1988 totalled £17 million. Turnover last year was £40 million with losses of 22.2 million.
Porter says the consortium views Exide as a strong business in terms of its products, reputation and established distribution networks. "This in turn implies that our investment is aimed at reinforcing those strengths, primarily by adding management expertise and financial resources to enable the company to realise its full potential," he says.