Acquisitor to look for tax breaks

The directors and shareholders of Acquisitor Holdings, the company that is trying to take control of Baltimore Technologies, yesterday said that any new project in which they invested its remaining cash may have to be in the technology sector.

Acquisitor Holdings deputy chairman Mr Duncan Soukup told The Irish Times that part of its strategy for Baltimore would be to exploit the possibility that future tax liabilities could be written off against the €1.5 billion in losses that the company racked up over the last five years.

"In order to do that, we would have to invest in an industry that allows us to use that tax loss, and that has to be related to the same sort of area that it was originally in," Mr Soukup said. "It might not be possible to use the tax loss."

He and Mr David Buchler, whom Acquisitor is proposing as interim chairman of Baltimore, said they knew the "profile of the type of asset" into which they planned to invest its remaining cash, but would not give any indication what it was. Nor would they say what size stake Acquisitor was seeking in Baltimore.

They also said that in a previous job with US utility CMS, Baltimore chief executive Mr David Weaver had led an investment in an Australian power plant that ultimately lost €503 million. Last night, Mr Weaver confirmed that CMS did the deal along with another US company and some Australian banks.

He said they bought the plant for less than what the banks valued it at. CMS sold its interest several weeks ago. Mr Weaver has not worked for the company for over two years. He will be leading Baltimore's bid to enter the energy and consultancy market.

Bermuda-based Acquisitor Holdings has over €16.5 million in assets, largely made up of cash and investments in a number of companies.

Its main shareholders are Mr Soukoup, who has 24.7 per cent, his colleague Mr John Radziwill, who has 15 per cent, and fellow board member Mr L Johnson, who has 6.3 per cent. Scottish Value Trust plc holds 21.2 per cent.