Bulgaria's Monbat Backs Away from Planned Acquisition of ASSAD over Legal, Environmental Issues
Bulgarian battery manufacturer Monbat said on Monday that it has decided against pursuing the acquisition of Tunisian peer L'Accumulateur Tunisien Assad (ASSAD) due to legal and environmental issues. There is currently a legal case pending concerning the land on which ASSAD's production plant is built, Monbat said in a statement. Another reason is the inability of the new owner to retain control of ASSAD's subsidiary in Algeria, due to an enforcement procedure over a portion of the shares of that company. The acquisition also represents a "non-justified environmental risk, which could not be forecast and respectively could not be managed in a reliable manner," Monbat said. Monbat operates four plants for manufacturing and recycling of lead-acid batteries, diodes and light-emitting diode luminaires.