Greece's Frigoglass to sell glass operations for $225 mln (updated)

Frigoglass SAIC

22/05/2015 08:03

* Nigeria's can producer GZ Industries to buy the business 
    * Frigoglass wants to cut debt, focus on cooler business 
    * First-quarter net loss at 3.9 mln euros 
 
 (Adds CEO comment, detail) 
    ATHENS, May 22 (Reuters) - Greek refrigerator maker 
Frigoglass  FRIr.AT  has agreed to sell its glass business to 
Nigerian aluminum can producer GZ Industries for $225 million 
(202 million euros) in an effort to cut debt and focus on its 
cooler business, it said on Friday. 
    Frigoglass, which sells coolers to beverage companies 
including Coca-Cola HBC  CCH.L  and brewers in Europe, 
has been hit by volatile conditions in Europe which have hurt 
bottlers' spending on refrigerators. 
   The company said it had agreed to divest all its glass 
container operations in Nigeria and Dubai and the complementary 
plastic crates and metal crowns businesses in Nigeria to GZI 
Mauritius, the holding company of GZ Industries. 
    "This move will substantially deleverage our balance sheet 
as well as allow us to focus on developing our cooler business 
into a new dimension," Frigoglass CEO Torsten Tuerling said in a 
statement.  
    Frigoglass expects to complete the sale in the second half 
of the year and will use the proceeds to reduce its debt. All 
1,588 employees at its glass operations will be transferred to 
the new owner, it said. 
    In a separate statement, Frigoglass announced a net loss of 
3.9 million euros in the first quarter of the year after a loss 
of 3.4 million euros in the same period in 2014. 
    Sales dropped 3.4 percent to 120 million euros, mainly 
reflecting lower revenue from its Africa and Middle East 
operations. 
    Frigoglass shares have climbed 38 percent so far this year, 
outperforming a 2.4 percent rise for the Athens bourse's general 
index  .ATG . 
 (1 euro = 1.1137 US dollar) 
 
 (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by David Clarke) 
 ((angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376436; 
Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: FRIGOGLASS GLASS OPERATIONS/