CoBe Capital investment fund acquires Gorenje's furniture division

Slovenia's household appliances maker Gorenje said Wednesday that it had sold two of its subsidiaries engaged in furniture manufacture, Gorenje Kuhinje (Gorenje Kitchens) and Gorenje Unutrasnja Oprema (Gorenje Interior Equipment), to the investment fund CoBe Capital, thus abandoning furniture production.

The new owner will continue to produce furniture at facilities in Maribor, Velenje and Nazarje, which employ a total of about 400 workers, Gorenje announced in a release published on the website of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange.

As people at Gorenje stressed, furniture production is not the core activity of this company and has brought nothing but losses over the last three years. The terms of sale negotiated between Gorenje and CoBe Capital have not been unveiled.

CoBe Capital has issued a release saying that they are satisfied with the new acquisition in Slovenia, adding that it should strengthen their production capacity and complement their existing operations in France, Germany and Austria.

- We see tremendous opportunity to grow the furniture division of Gorenje through its quality craftsmanship, design and efficient production facilities offering quite competitive cost structures - said Neal Cohen, CoBe Capital’s founder and managing director.