AMSTERDAM, June 15 (Reuters) - Dutch utility Eneco has agreed to buy various operations of sustainable energy company Econcern in a controlled auction, after a Dutch court declared the Econcern holding company bankrupt.
Econcern said in May it had filed for voluntary receivership after it failed to secure refinancing. It said the receivership would give it more time to secure financing and negotiate options for its future with interested parties.
Econcern said that a Dutch court on Friday had ended its period of receivership, and declared the company and various domestic and international units bankrupt. Two units were granted suspension of payments.
Curators were appointed and a "controlled auction" was held, which lead to an agreement for Eneco to buy parts of Econcern's consultancy business and wind energy project development unit, and part of its biomass activities.
Eneco said the parties would not disclose the purchase price.
Econcern said the two sides hoped to reach an agreement shortly over its solar energy operations.
"This takeover of core operations means more than 400 workers, both domestic and internationally, are expected to be retained," curators Louis Deterink and Willem Jan van Andel said in a statement.
Econcern employs about 1,100 staff in total.
Competition authorities still need to approve the deal.
Econocern said that curators were also involved in talks with other parties about the Econcern operations not involved the Eneco deal. An Econcern spokesman said the two units granted suspension of payments were considering to operate independently.
Econcern, which had been aiming for an initial public offering between 2010 and 2012, said last year that it aimed to increase its net profit more than tenfold to 1 billion euros ($1.39 billion) on revenues of 8 billion euros by 2012. ($1=.7203 Euro) (Reporting by Aaron Gray-Block; editing by Karen Foster)