Westa divests subsidiary with USD 121 mln debt

Westa (WES PW), the CIS’ largest car battery producer, sold subsidiary Techkomplekt LLC, the company said on Wednesday.  Techkomplekt was the group’s trading house, and according to Westa, had USD 121 mln in debt and USD 140 mln in assets as of the transaction date. The transaction, whose value was not disclosed, is planned to be completed by yearend. According to management, the deal will not have a material effect on Westa’s operations but will improve its capital structure. Alexander Paraschiy: The divestiture should allow the company to cut its debt portfolio by 43% from USD 326 mln as of end-3Q11. Assuming goodwill being close to zero for the deal, it decreases the company’s Total Debt/Equity ratio from an estimated 7.0x to 4.0x as of end-2011.