HPK Engineering to manage Zelezara Smederevo

HPK Engineering to manage Zelezara Smederevo

BELGRADE -- The Serbian government has decided to entrust the management and consulting of Zelezara Smederevo to the company HPK Engineering BV.

The Holland-based company is represented by John Goodish and Peter Kamaras.

A statement issued after last night's meeting of the government said that the decision of a commission tasked with choosing the best offer was accepted.

The government recommended to the steel mill's bodies and ordered the Ministry of Economy "to carry out all necessary activities for concluding the agreement on the provision of management and consulting services."

A contact should be signed within the next three days. Three companies were shortlisted to manage the steel plant - beside the HPK Engineering, they included Esmark from the U.S. and Austrian-Swedish consortium Inteko Emlog.

Esmark owner James Bouchard and Peter Kamaras were until recently business partners, but fell out during the failed attempt of Esmark to take over Zelezara. They then entered the race for the management contract separately, with Bouchard announcing his company was suing Kamaras for "sabotaging" the privatization negotiations.