Savior for a bankrupt firm
Avgerinopoulos Group employees, numbering over 1,600, are hopeful of keeping their jobs after a deal was reached yesterday for the transfer of the management of group company Beauty & Diet to First Boston Investment SA. The announcement was made by Deputy Labor Minister Lefteris Tziolas after several hours of talks with unionists and First Boston Chairman Panayiotis Kehayias. First Boston agreed to pay employees’ unpaid wages starting today and ending Friday, June 27. Each Friday, employees will be paid 25 percent of the arrears. Kehayias said that if a study proves the viability of the other businesses of the Avgerinopoulos Group, which include a technical college, and negotiations with creditor banks go well, then his company will acquire the entire group. Kehayias has also expressed an interest in acquiring soccer club AEK. The government is making strenuous efforts to avoid job losses as a result of a series of recently declared bankruptcies. It is actively seeking interested buyers. It is also looking for ways to find jobs for several workers of the Palco garment factory. Its German-Swiss owner, Schiesser Pallas, has shut down production at the factory, which used to employ 500, in order to move production to a lower-cost country.
