The bankruptcy protection proceedings, which were launched by the Ljubljana District Court on Thursday, were approved by the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC), which holds 37.8% of ACH's debt.

According to January reports by business daily Finance, the cars-to-telecoms conglomerate owes EUR 129m to banks.

Under Slovenian legislation, the procedure - also called preventive debt restructuring - must be approved by creditors claiming 30% of debt.

The company said in a press release that the procedure would stabilise the situation and allow ACH to preserve liquidity and continue its business and financial restructuring.

The restructuring programme drafted by KPMG consultancy envisages that ACH repay its entire debt and preserve more than 2,000 jobs.

This also means that the state would get more than EUR 20m in taxes and contributions, the press release adds.