The head of Cimos supervisory board, Vojko Antončič, told the paper that the banks were happy with this week's replacement at the helm of the company.

Jerko Bartolić was appointed acting chairman on Thursday to replace Franc Krašovec.

It is not yet known how the buyers will respond to the move, but a meeting with them is scheduled for next week. The employees have also not commented on the replacement yet, Dnevnik says.

Antončič is confident that with the help of the state, the company employing some 3,000 people in Slovenia, will avoid bankruptcy.

The new management will according to Dnevnik start restructuring the company by closing down some of production facilities in the countries of former Yugoslavia and by merging some of them.

It also plans to reduce the costs of waste - goods that are found by in-house services to not meeting the standards of car makers.

This should save EUR 6-7m this year and then every year EUR 10-15m.

In Slovenia, no major layoffs are planed.