Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd yesterday turned down an offer of €500,000 which is considered 'ridiculous' for its 75 per cent shareholding in Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre (MFCC). The offer was made by Sign-It Ltd, which owns the remaining 25 per cent shareholding of the MFCC. The offer was made during discussions late last night.
Following the resignation of five MFCC board members, discussions are being held between the shareholders to determine the future of the company, with liquidation now being most likely.
The setting up of MFCC, which is owed €1.6 million, was considered to be a "shotgun wedding" between Sign-It and Fairs & Exhibitions when the two companies merged in 2006 after long and tough negotiations. This year it organised the annual Malta International Trade Fair at its Ta' Qali venue for the first time, an event previously held in Naxxar.
Tomorrow a meeting is planned with Bank of Valletta where the future of the company will be determined.
Three weeks ago five of the eight board members resigned from MFCC, including its chairman Paul Abela. Official reasons were not given, but sources said there were diverging ideas at board level with members disagreeing on the future direction of the company.
This created uncertainty within the company structures, and prompted Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin (UĦM) to ask employees to strike.
The UĦM said that throughout its two years of existence MFCC had gone through several leadership changes which created a prolonged situation of uncertainty for the workers.
A few days ago this "precarious situation" was exposed when Ruben Caruana from Sign-It informed the union and the employees that MFCC could not guarantee their wages and that the board of directors was made up of only three representatives because the rest had resigned.
The UĦM called for an urgent conciliation meeting and for the employees not to work overtime until the situation is resolved. But since no further information reached the union, the employees were advised to stop working at noon yesterday until the official position of the company is made clear.
The IT & T Fair, which was meant to be held this week, has now been postponed to be held later with the Machinery and Tools Fair. Other events that are scheduled to be held by MFCC in the coming months are the Michael Bolton concert, the Malta Military Tattoo and the Weddings Fair.
Sign-It director Ruben Caruana was unavailable for comment while Romwald Lungaro Mifsud, the MFCC chairman's delegate did not reply to questions sent to him by The Times.