Prague, April 21 (CTK) – Financial troubles of Vitkovice, the Czech number one engineering firm, have forced its owner Jan Svetlik to sell a part of its unique collection of Czech modern arts, Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes on Thursday, adding that the firm would not tell how many works are being sold and for what price.
The Vitkovice board of directors assigned Svetlik to negotiate the sale of items from the collection that contains works by painters such as Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957) and Emil Filla (1882-1953), sculptors Otto Guttfreund (1889-1927) and Vincenc Makovsky (1900-1966), and unique works in the style of socialist realism, typical of the communist period, the daily writes.
“Vitkovice is selling its non-production assets. It has been demanded by banks. We will use the proceeds to reduce our debt,” the company’s spokeswoman, Eva Kijonkova, told MfD.
The overall debt exceeds three billion crowns, the daily writes.
Troubles are faced by three firms from the Vitkovice holding, including Vitkovice Power Engineering, one of the holding’s main pillars that might end in insolvency, the paper says.
The banks’ confidence in Svetlik has evidently diminished and symptoms of a crisis escalate in spite of Svetlik’s assertions that the situation is far from fatal, the paper continues.
Vitkovice urgently needs cash to avert its reputation of a firm that fails to pay its suppliers, the daily writes.
Apart from economic measures, Svetlik is giving up a part of his collection of art, whose masterpieces he previously personally chose at auctions in London and elsewhere in the world.
