The news was confirmed Wednesday by SwatyComet's previous sole shareholder, Avtotehna, after Ripford, a Luxembourg company, was entered in public records as the new sole owner.

Avtotehna had to offload SwatyComet under orders from its majority shareholder, the the Bank Asset Management Company, which recently approved the sale of the outright stake.

Avtotehna said today that Weiler's and SwatyComet's portfolios were "very compatible", with little geographical overlap between the two.

"Their combination is therefore more than just the sum of their capacities," Avtotehna chief executive Milan Perović was quoted as saying.

He said the buyer intended to build on SwatyComet's long manufacturing tradition and develop its acquisition into the group's European base.

The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed beyond Avtotehna saying that creditors who had a pledge on its stake in SwatyComet had been fully compensated.

"The complementary nature of our products, geographies and company cultures makes this a great fit," Weiler's CEO Chris Weiler said in a press release.

"We are joining two great companies and brands, both of us with proud histories that are now coming together to offer increased value to our customers around the world," he said.

SwatyComet was established in 2010 with the merger of abrasives makers Swaty and Comet, three years after both became members of the hardware-through-IT group Avtotehna.

It has production plants in Maribor, Zreče and Loče and exports 95% of its products to around 80 countries around the world.

The company posted a net profit of EUR 3.5m for last year, double that of a year earlier. Sales amounted to EUR 81m, which was up 6% year-on-year.

Avtotehna's financial woes had forced the owner to think about selling SwatyComet, but it later ended in the hands of the bad bank as part of the court-mandated debt restructuring proceedings.