Deadline for Smederevo steel mill expires

PM Aleksandar Vucic toured the Zelezara plant in October (Beta, file)

Deadline for Smederevo steel mill expires

BELGRADE -- The deadline for submission of bids for a 80.01 percent stake in Zelezara Smederevo expires today and all the received bids will be opened on January 9.

A commission set up for the privatization of Zelezara Smederevo steel plant will hold a meeting on January 9 and it will issue its opinion on the bids, after which the opinion would be presented to the Serbian government together with the recommendations, Zelezara Smederevo Executive Director Bojan Bojkovic told the state broadcaster RTS.

According to the announcements issued by the Serbian government, the identity of the strategic partner for the Serbian steel plant could be established by February 1.

On December 5, 2014, the Privatization Agency issued a public call for the strategic partner with a capital input in the steel plant, wherein the government will preserve a 19.99 percent stake in the ownership structure.

Letters of interest for the privatization of Zelezara Smederevo were previously filed by ten companies and the offer of the U.S.-based Esmark has been assessed as the most serious one.

The founder and chairman of Esmark Steel Group James Bouchard recently told Tanjug that the company would invest USD 400 million in the Serbian steel plant over the next few years if it wins the tender, adding that there would be no dismissals.

He underscored that Esmark would invest USD 28 million in Zelezara Smederevo in 2015 alone, the second blast furnace would be launched once more and investments in the central plant would also be made.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stated in late December that he organised 31 meetings concerning the sale of Zelezara Smederevo, and noted that the...

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