The HURS trade union federation on Wednesday reiterated its adamant opposition to the government's plan to sell the largest national insurer -- Croatia Osiguranje (CO) - with an explanation that the sale of this successful company would be contrary to the interests of the state and of workers.
CO is not a loss-making company, but it currently has over 600 million kuna in retained profit and its portion in the Croatian insurance market is 34%, HURS official Miroslav Hrascanec said at a news conference in Zagreb.
Even if the CO is sold at the price of one billion kuna, as speculated, the new owner can withdraw HRK 600 million from the retained profit and immediately cover a majority of their invested capital, said Hrascanec, who as at the helm of the insurance industry workers union within the HURS federation.
Also, CO has recently offered its bid to buy a 25% in Slovenia's insurance company Pozavarovalnica Sava which is seen by unionists as evidence that the Croatian company has enough capital and there is no need for injection of fresh funds, as presented by proponents of the sale of CO.
