Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – The government should approve of the privatization itinerary for the shipyard industry before January 15th.
The Ministry of the Treasure is supposed to present to the government the itineraries of privatization of the Polish shipyards.
“Korporacja Polskie Stocznie (KPS) prepares the itinerary for Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa (SSN) while the Agency for Industrial Development (ARP) does the same for Stocznia Gdansk. The Ministry will have to approve of them. The Ministry itself prepares the itinerary of privatization of Stocznia Gdynia”, Agnieszka Dluska from the ministry said.
The government should approve of the itineraries before January 15th.
Jerzy Konopka, KPS deputy CEO said that the plan of SSN privatization has already been presented to the ministry. The strategic investor should appear in the company till the middle of the year. Zlomrex submitted an offer last year. The company is supposed to buy shares worth PLN 95m (EUR 24.7m) which will increase SSN capital and will be offered the stock from KPS or ARP. Also Stocznia Gdynia should be privatized till the middle of the year. Ukrainian Donbas is interested in the transaction. Final decision whether Donbas increases the shipyard’s capital by PLN 500m depends on whether the state agrees to help reduce the shipyard’s debts worth PLN 500m.
Stocznia Gdansk has much more time for privatization.
“A 20 percent stake was supposed to be sold to an investor last year. A strategic stake, or 51 percent, should be acquired till the end of 2008”, Andrzej Jaworski, Stocznia Gdansk CEO said.
Initially, Italian FWH and Ukrainian Donbas were supposed to buy the stock. Negotiations are going on, however, concerning the price of the ships which the Italians would buy from Gdanska Stocznia.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.260)