"Esmark will revitalize Zelezara after transaction"

"Esmark will revitalize Zelezara after transaction"

BELGRADE -- Esmark Europe B.V. has been officially notified that it was chosen as the strategic partner in the privatization of the steel mill Zelezara Smederevo.

Esmark's CEO has said that the company's team will focus on revitalziing the Serbian steel maker once the transaction is completed.

The procedure is expected to be finished by February 1, James Bouchard stated, stressing that Esmark would do all in its power to help stimulate the Serbian economy.

Everyone at Esmark is delighted to be chosen by the Serbian government as the strategic partner, he told Tanjug, adding that Serbia was conducting a fair and transparent privatisation process, and that his company shared the vision of Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to restore Zelezara Smederevo to its former glory and turn it into an engine of the nation's economy once again.

Esmark will take over 80.1 percent of Zelezara Smederevo, while the government will keep 19.9 percent.

Esmark's founder, chairman and CEO, told Tanjug recently that the company would invest USD 400 million in the Serbian steel plant over the following few years if it won the tender, adding that nobody would lose their job at the plant.

He stressed that Esmark would invest USD 28 million in Zelezara Smederevo in 2015 alone, and would restart the second blast furnace and make new investments in the central production facility.

He tahnked the head of the Zelezara Smederevo privatization commission

Bojan Bojkovic, Minister of Finance Dusan Vujovic, Zelezara Smederevo workers and their union and the US Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby.

The Serbian government accepted on Monday a bid from the...