【Ferro-alloys.com】Albanian investment group Balfin has signed an agreement to sell its subsidiary in mining sector Albchrome to the Turkish company Yildirim International Mining Investments.

Turkish owned Yildirim Group is set to complete the acquisition of Albchrome by the end of January, according to the President and CEO of the group, Robert Yildirim.

“We will be completing the purchase next month. We are hoping it will be by mid-January or the end of the month,” Yildirim said.

Yildirim Group is a conglomerate with interests in mining, ports, and chemicals in more than 28 countries. The company has been looking to expand abroad.

“Deals outside Turkey are much cheaper and better than Turkish opportunities. It is easier to deal with foreign bureaucracy than Turkish bureaucracy,” Yildirim told Bloomberg in 2017.

Albchrome has been somewhat controversial due to a number of miners deaths and serious injuries with no accountability from the company. Furthermore, protests have taken place over working conditions, low salaries, and failure to provide adequate safety materials.

Albchrome is a limited liability company registered in Albania, with object of activity: management, support activities for the mining industry, services for non-metallic minerals, etc. Albchrome has two wholly owned subsidiaries Albchrome LLC and Vllahen Mining LLC.

In the last two years, the financial results of the chrome mining and processing sector companies owned by the Balfin group have not been very good, while last year the activity seems to have been significantly affected by the pandemic and the drop in demand that it brought to world markets. Albchrome for 2020 reported an annual turnover in the amount of Lek 4.5 billion, 40% less compared to a year ago. The financial result was with a modest profit in the amount of Lek 5 million, while a year ago a net loss of Lek 663 million was recorded.

The company Vllahen Mining for 2020 reported a total turnover worth about Lek 5 million, down by 71% compared to a year ago. The net financial result was negative in the amount of Lek 40 million, while in 2019 the losses were at the level of Lek 56 million.

• [Editor:zhaozihao]