Thomson to finally leave Videocon

Polish assets included the Piaseczno plant near Warsaw. As Videocon stated previously, the total capacity of the Polish factory is 5.4 million units per year. Until recently - summer 2008 - the Polish plant experiences massive cutbacks in its workforce and 1400 employees lost their jobs. Te company now starts the second phase in the lay off process and the workforce will be cut back to 950 employees. ‘The TDP Piaseczno Board states recently "that the company is going to continue manufacturing tubes and other crucial components, as well as maintain its TV assembly activity", reports the Kurier Południowy. However, other business segments will be discontinued. Thomson has now sold 3.5% of its 13.5% stake in Videocon. The lock-in period is close to expire (30th September) and the French giant seeks to terminate the investment. The purchaser of Thompson's stake is the Dhoot family, a majority shareholder of Videocon (67%), which will be acting through its offshore vehicles. On completion of this transaction, capital liaisons between Thomson and Videocon will be terminated.