The chairman of Tunisia’s Batam department store chain, Maher Ben Ayed, has been demoded following a shareholders’ decision in a final attempt to save the company from possible bankruptcy. The Societe Tunisiennne de Banque was chosen as Batam’s new receiver, official sources reported. Ben Ayed also owns 33.1 percent of the company,
Negotiations between Batam and its creditors—four of the nation’s largest financial institutions—yielded no progress regarding repayments of the company’s $205 million debts. The department store chain and a number of its shareholders agreed to employ an external receiver to appraise the company’s financial situation.
Batam posted losses of 987,485 Tunisian dinars ($712,060) in the first half of 2002 compared to a profit of TD 713,539 dinars during the same period last year. Batam operates 139 stores in Tunisia and abroad. Established in 1988, the department store chain specializes in home furnishings and electrical appliances and employs 2,058 workers. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
