The privatization of Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa (SSN) starts. The shipyard is controlled by state-owned enterprise built on bankrupt Porta Holding. The Agency of Industrial Development (ARP), its main owner, will soon choose the privatization advisor. The government wants the shipyard to be privatized in this half of the year. Zlomrex and a Norwegian investment fund representing Norsk Hydro and Statoil are among potential buyers.
According to “PB” sources, it won’t be cheap to buy SSN.
“ARP has so far conveyed to the shipyard a lot of money, exactly PLN 340m (EUR 87.4m) and we want to get the money back if a 100 percent stake is sold. Selling it cheaper would adversely affect ARP and I cannot do that”, Pawel Brzezicki, ARP CEO said.
If the owner, or the state, sells the shipyard cheaper, it will have to pay the difference to ARP. The investor will also have to spend funds on investments – according to the restructuring plan they amount to PLN 190m. Half of this sum will have to by covered by the new owner. Summing up, the potential investor at SSN will have to spend PLN 435m.
Several weeks ago, the shipyard had problems with financing production. It managed to negotiate insurance for advanced payments from shipowners with state-owned insurance company KUKE. It was the only way to sign contracts with banks. Investors face the risk of paying back the state aid which is questioned by the European Commission. ARP CEO calms down that it is only PLN 37m in case of SSN. There are rumors, however, that SSN has another problem – unprofitable contracts (contracts for nearly 30 ships are unprofitable out of 34 ones).
“The portfolio is a problem but the majority of contracts are profitable. Unprofitable ones are being renegotiated. Besides, the contracts are not profitable because steel prices are high now but they may fall”, Pawel Brzezicki said.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.257)