The Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) on Thursday opened three bids and one letter of intent for the privatisation of the Kraljevica shipyard, and the bids were submitted by the Zagreb-based Adria-Mar Brodogradnja and Jadranska Ulaganja companies and Shipyard Bomex 4M from Serbia, while the letter of intent was sent by the Dutch Damen Shipyard Group.
The deadline for submitting offers for the purchase of a 99.54 percent of the Kraljevica shipyard's stock expired at 1400 hrs today.
The bidding documentation had also been bought by Montmontaza, but the Zagreb-headquartered company did not submit an offer.
The HFP commission established that the three bids were valid and it will forward them to the government's task force in charge of the matter to express its opinion.
A member of the HFP managing board, union leader Ozren Matijasevic, said trade unions deemed any bid acceptable if it met the requirements stated in the invitation for bids. This primarily means that the potential buyer should see to it that the shipyard continues its main line of business, according to Matijasevic.
He said that the three bids, submitted in the third attempt to privatise the Kraljevica shipyard, justified the government's efforts in negotiations with the European Commission which had made the third privatisation round possible.
If the privatisation does not succeed, the fate of the Kraljevica shipyard and its workers will be uncertain. Therefore efforts should be invested so that the Croatian Competition Agency and the European Commission accept plans for the company's restructuring, the union leader said.
The Brodogradiliste Kraljevica director's assistant, Rastko Davila, said that he hoped that the oldest Croatian shipyard would survive.
All three bidders are from the shipbuilding sector, which is good, Davila said.
The HFP invited bids for the purchase of 893,150 shares of the Kraljevica shipyard under special terms, after the government decided to launch the third round of privatisation for the shipyard at a meeting on October 21.
The initial price was set at one kuna and the deadline for the submission of bids was 2pm on November 18.
The government is selling its portfolio of 893,150 shares, or 99.54 per cent of the shipyard's equity, nominally worth HRK 178.3 million.
Bidders were expected to meet several requirements, including the preparation and submission of a restructuring programme for the next five years. The programme was to be in line with EU and Croatian regulations on state grants to ailing companies, and to contain structural and financial measures with an investment plan to establish the long-term market sustainability of the Kraljevica shipyard.
The restructuring programme is subject to approval by the Croatian Competition Agency and the European Commission.
Bidders are expected to cover at least 40 per cent of the restructuring costs and propose a plan for meeting the shipyard's liabilities towards banks. They should also undertake to increase the company's equity, respect the existing collective agreements, draw up an assessment of the number of employees after the restructuring process, and provide for surplus labour during the restructuring.
Bidders were also expected to provide a tender guarantee of HRK 1 million.
