INDUSTRIAL holding group James Crean has received 20 "serious enquiries" about buying its subsidiary company Inishtech, according to director Mr Martin Delaney.
Speaking after the company's annual general meeting yesterday, Mr Delaney said it would circulate financial details on its print and packaging subsidiary to potential purchasers over the next four weeks.
Mr Delaney would not disclose who the bidders were, but it indicated that at least two Irish companies had expressed an interest in buying Inishtech.
While refusing to speculate on the purchase price if a deal was completed, Mr Delaney said that a price of £90 million would be "very acceptable".
This values the bid at 50p per share the price Crean paid for the minority interests of Inishtech earlier this year. Between its original investment in Inishtech and the final buyout of the minority shareholdings, Crean paid around £46 million for the company.
Inishtech makes a substantial contribution to the group, generating close to 40 per cent of its £14.97 million pre tax profits in 1995. Crean wishes to sell it, however, to allow the group to concentrate on its core food and electrical business.
The group yesterday also confirmed the loss of the Mars distribution franchise. Chairman Mr Domhnall McCullough told shareholders this would mean a loss of £1.17 million in the group's annual pre tax profits. The £6 million in working capital invested by the group in its JMC subsidiary would be reinvested in Crean's core activities, he said.
Responding to shareholders' questions on the issue, Mr Delaney said the business had been lost in a competitive tendering process. No factors, other than price, he stressed, had influenced Mars to move the business from September. Crean would close the JMC subsidiary in September with the loss of 34 jobs, he said.
