Ursus, the much troubled Polish tractor company, has at last found a new buyer, although very little is known about the recently formed company that now owns it.
It has been over three years since Ursus was declared bankrupt by a court in Warsaw after at least three banks had requested that it be wound down as their loans to the company had remained unpaid and it last made a profit in 2017.
Following the court decision, it was expected that the assets would be dispersed and the company closed, yet the receivers, KGS Restrukturyzacje, has kept Ursus together as a single entity, as it sought a buyer, a search that has now come to a conclusion.
Third time lucky
The sale took place at the third attempt, the price having dropped from €29 million to €17 million. It includes the company, Ursus SA, with its registered office in Warsaw, and two production plants, one in Dobre Miasto and the other in Lublin.
The purchasing company is M.I. Crow SP Z O.O (Poland) which established both itself, and an office in Warsaw, as recently as July of this year.
Little is known about the company, other than it lists its activities as including aerospace products and parts manufacturing, as well as steel fabrication.
It is also said that arms manufacture features in its activities raising concerns that the facilities were not purchased just for for the continued production of tractors.
Ursus to rise again
This is despite the company’s new owners reportedly saying that they are committed to preserving Ursus’ agricultural heritage and intend to resume production of farm machinery within 18 months.
The question mark over the future of the factories is not immediately dispelled by the fact that a prominent Ukrainian newspaper boasts of M.I. Crow SP being led by Kyiv-based entrepreneur Oleg Krot, a businessman who comes from a software development background rather than industry.
It also notes that Krot is the head of a consortium of financiers, and it is this group that has backed the establishment of the new manufacturing company in Poland, with Ukrainian money.
Krot himself has, in the past, been connected with both the Ukranian security forces and the Russian betting trade with a $60 million donation to the Ukrainian army and involvement with 1XBET, an online betting company operating in Russia.
As noted before on Agriland, there is a shrinking demand for tractors, by unit number, in the west while China, for one, is busy ramping up production.
