ISS says agreed sale of U.S. unit .
COPENHAGEN 1996-08-28
Danish cleaning group ISS on Wednesday said it had signed a letter of intent to sell its troubled U.S unit ISS Inc to Canadian firm Aaxis Limited .
An ISS statement said that Aaxis , with year-end 1996 assets of US$ 10.9 million and equity of $ 10.5 million , would be listed on the Montreal stock exchange , but did not say when .
It said that under the sale agreement , full financial details of which were not revealed , ISS would acquire a 25 percent stake in Aaxis which would become an associated company within the ISS group trading under the ISS name and logo .
ISS Inc senior management would continue to run the business under the new owners , it said .
Danish analysts recently estimated ISS Inc 's sale value at up to $ 118 million .
ISS said that the deal included ISS Inc operations in Mexico and the sale of ISS Inc interests in Brazil would be discussed .
On August 15 , ISS published first half 1996 results showing a two billion crown loss caused by falsified accounts in ISS Inc and said that charges and provisions earlier estimated at $ 100 million would have to be increased to $ 146 million .
It also wrote down all ISS Inc goodwill and Wednesday 's statement said that the Aaxis purchase would not necessitate further write down if the sale were completed according to the terms of the letter of intent .
-- Steve Weizman , Copenhagen newsroom +45 33969650