Short answer, yes - but it's been bailed out by the Ital
Antonio Merloni SA, which is nothing to do with the other, larger Merloni now known as Indesit Group owns the Servis trademark along with quite a few others, including Asko!
The Italian Government aimed to offer it some kind of guarantee to help it through the next while and save jobs and, after some deliberation, the European Commission has allowed it.
Press Release:
vIP/09/139
Brussels, 28th January 2009
State aid: Commission endorses €68 million loan
guarantee to rescue Italian domestic appliances
producer Antonio Merloni
The European Commission has authorised, under EC Treaty state aid rules, a €68 million loan guarantee to keep the Italian domestic appliances group
Antonio Merloni afloat. The aid is in line with the EU Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines (see MEMO/04/172). In particular, it is limited in time and scope and
will be remunerated at a price in line with normal market conditions. Moreover, within six months, Antonio Merloni will either repay the aid in full or present a plan for a long-term restructuring.
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented: "I am satisfied that our quick response will allow the company to overcome this time of difficulty without any undue
distortion of competition, so that its important role in the economy of the regions concerned will be safeguarded pending its long-term restructuring".
On 8 December 2008 Italy notified its intention to grant a €68 million loan guarantee to the Antonio Merloni group, a producer of domestic appliances present in several
European countries, with limited market shares at EU and national level.
Antonio Merloni suffered high losses in 2007 and 2008 due to increasing costs of raw materials and mounting debts towards suppliers. Antonio Merloni was unable to finance
its recovery with its own resources with serious social impact foreseeable for its 3000 workers mainly concentrated in central Italy. Since the group was admitted to insolvency
proceedings under Italian law, its financial relations with suppliers and clients worsened in the context of the current economic crisis.
The Commission concluded that the intended rescue aid was in line with the EU rules for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (see MEMO/04/172).
The aid will be paid in the form of a loan guarantee by the Italian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, at a price in line with that applied in the market to healthy
companies The Commission’s investigation confirmed that the loan guarantee of €68 million,calculated on the basis of a punctual liquidity plan, is indeed the minimum necessary to
keep the group in business and allows the time to establish a restructuring plan.
The Italian authorities committed that within 6 months the group will present a credible restructuring plan ensuring long term viability and complying with the relevant state aid
rules.
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number N 621/2008 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News
Full document below:
