L 314/20 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 11. 97 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 26 June 1997 concerning State aid in favour of SKET Schwermaschinenbau Magdeburg GmbH (SKET SMM), Saxony-Anhalt (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (97/765/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 93 (2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement establishing the Euro- pean Economic Area, and in particular Article 62 (1) (a) thereof, Having given notice in accordance with Article 93 to interested parties to submit their comments, Whereas: By letter dated 21 March 1995(') the Commission informed the German Government of its decision to initiate proceedings pursuant to Article 93 (2) of the EC Treaty in respect of aid granted by the Treuhandanstalt (THA) and its successor organijzation, the Bundesanstalt fiir vereinigungsbedingte Sonderaufgaben (BvS), to SKET Schwermaschinenbau Magdeburg GmbH (SKET SMM). The enterprise was located in the new German Land of Saxony-Anhalt and has since filed for bankruptcy. SKET used to employ approximately 1 800 people and was the () OJ C 215, 19. 8. 1995, p. 8. largest manufacturer of machinery and equipment in the new Ldnder. Its product range included rolling mills, wire-drawing mills, cranes, steel wire and cable-making machines, dressing and sizing technology, vegetable oil extraction plants, sewage treatment plants and dust col- lectors. SKET was founded in Magdeburg in the middle of the nineteenth century as a ship repair yard and iron foundry and became ‘Friedrich Krupp Grusonwerke’ after a merger with Krupp, Essen, in 1893. Four-fifths of the internationally renowned engineering works were destroyed during the Second World War. After the war the enterprise resumed trading under Soviet control, be- coming, in 1954, VEB Schwermaschinenbau ‘Ernst Thil- mann’ Magdeburg. In 1969 it became the seat of the newly founded ‘Ernst Thilmann’ combine comprising 18 subsidiaries with 30 000 employees and an annual turnover of DM 2,6 billion. At the time SKET was the largest producer and exporter of heavy machinery in the Comecon countries. After the unification of Germany, SKET was transformed by the THA, which was the agency responsible for privatizing East German state property, into SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau AG and later into limited companies (19 447 workers). In its Decisions of 10 June 1993 (NN 43/93) and 13 October 1993 (NN 95/93) the Commission approved DM 427.6 million of aid granted in 1992 and 1993 by the THA to SKET AG.