Talks to find a buyer for BenQ Mobile still on
Afp, Munich, Germany
Talks with potential investors over the possible acquisition of mobile phone maker BenQ Mobile are still going on, the court-appointed administrator of the bankrupt German arm of Taiwanese electronics maker BenQ said on Wednesday. But so far, there is no sign of a deal being reached, administrator Martin Prager told a news conference here. "There are still a number of interested parties we're talking to. The next few weeks could prove exciting," Prager said. The administrator has been been trying to find a buyer for BenQ Mobile, which filed for insolvency at the end of September, but so far to no avail. A court in Munich officially opened insolvency proceedings against the company on Monday. Prager refused to comment on the state of talks with a German-US investor who labour representatives said had expressed an interest in buying BenQ Mobile. Negotiations were focussing on a takeover of the whole company, Prager said. "During the course of the talks, it emerged that a small-scale solution was not workable," he said. Prager said he had negotiated with more than one hundred potential buyers both inside and outside Germany since October. And he described talks with 31 of these as "intensive". But they had all pulled out in view of the sharp drop in BenQ's sales, the administrator continued. Prager said that if an investor were found quickly, there was a good chance of turning the company around. But any potential buyer would have to invest hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in the firm.
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