Benetton acquires Nitex for EUR 3 million

The Italian fashion company Benetton acquired Nis-based Nitex at an auction, held on May 13 in the premises of the Privatization Agency in Belgrade, at the starting price of EUR 3,071,515.

On behalf of the company Benetton, the sole participant in the auction, an agreement on the acquisition of Nitex was signed by Benetton Serbia Director Flavio Simonetti who refused to give any statements after the auction.

On January 31, 2011, representatives of the Serbian government and the City of Nis and people from Benetton signed a Memorandum of understanding, listing the rights and obligations related to the Italian investment in Nis.

It was announced on that occasion that Benetton planned to employ 2,700 people and invest EUR 43.2 million in the plant in Nis over the next four years, as well as that the project would be backed by the state with subsidies amounting to EUR 9,000 per each new employee.

Mladjan Dinkic, Serbian minister of economy at the time, said after the Memorandum was signed that he expected Benetton to become the owner of Nitex by late March.

Representatives of Benetton announced that they would bring accompanying suppliers to Nis and make Nitex once again the leading textile center in Serbia.

Benetton is a family-run business founded in 1965 and it is today one of the largest groups in the field of fashion textile industry, operating in 120 countries.

The company's core activity is the production of fashion clothing under brands United Colors of Benetton, Sisley and Playlife.

Benetton produces over 150m clothing items per year and has a retail network of about 6,000 up-to-date outlets.

The company Nitex employs 652 workers whose average salary is about RSD 17,000.