Danko Koncar, owner of the Jadranska Ulaganja company, said in an interview with Croatian Television on Thursday evening that the Rijeka-based shipyard 3rd May was no longer included in the company's final bid for the purchase of shipyards submitted to the government earlier in the day.
Koncar said his company had strengthened its offers for the Brodotrogir and Kraljevica shipyards and that it was strengthening restructuring plans that had been approved by the European Union, Croatia's Competition Agency, and the shipyards, but that its bid no longer included 3rd May.
"We believe that 3rd May is not in such a bad situation and is not facing bankruptcy - at least that is what the shipyard's representatives have told us, so we have decided to withdraw our offer for that shipyard for reasons that are more of a technical nature," said Koncar.
Commenting on the bid for Brodotrogir, Koncar said that in negotiations with the EU, Croatia had agreed to reduce the capacity of its shipbuilding industry, which he said would reflect on the number of jobs in that sector.
Regarding Kraljevica, Koncar said his company had stated in its bid that it was entering an off-shore project in the Rijeka basin with a German partner. "This programme means investing EUR 100 million and creating 1,700 jobs. This would be near Kraljevica, so part of the Kraljevica workers will be used to work on the off-shore programme."
Asked what would happen in the government turned down the bid, Koncar said the off-shore programme would be carried out. "We are creating 1,700 jobs and staying in the part of the shipbuilding industry that we think has prospects, with annual growth of more than 20 per cent and a place on the world market."
Earlier in the day, the media reported that Jadranska Ulaganja had submitted a bid for the purchase of the state-owned shipyards 3rd May, Kraljevica and Brodotrogir.
