ZAGREB, March 12, 2019 – A hearing before Rijeka Commercial Court to determine whether conditions exist for initiating bankruptcy proceedings for the 3. Maj shipyard was once again postponed on Tuesday, until March 28, to see whether the relevant ministry, the strategic partner and management will manage to reach an agreement on the payment of overdue wages and the continuation of production.
Bankruptcy trustee Zdravko Ćupković and union representatives agreed with the adjournment.
All creditors have been offered an agreement on debt repayment, under which 15% of the debt would be repaid by April 15 and the rest by the end of the year. One third of the creditors have signed the agreement so far.
Judge Liljana Ugrin said that she had received information from the FINA financial agency this morning stating that the shipyard’s account is blocked due to a debt of 91 million kuna and that 18.7 million kuna referred to workers’ wages.
The judge said that a report by Ćupković notes that because 3. Maj is involved in shipbuilding, a bankruptcy plan is almost impossible. There is no finance department, no design bureau but only production, however a new reorganisation is underway which foresees the re-establishment of these services, she added.
The preliminary procedure regarding bankruptcy was launched in early January and a hearing was set for February 26, which was adjourned until today. Ćupković then explained that the shipyard wasn’t overindebted and that it had 522.2 million kuna at its disposal as well as property that would be sufficient to settle the costs of a bankruptcy.
Economy Minister Darko Horvat met on Monday with Uljanik’s management and the strategic partner, Tomislav Debeljak, after which he said that the government was expected to decide this week whether the restructuring of the Uljanik shipbuilding group would go ahead or not.
“There are only two options – we will either opt for restructuring and finance this interim phase with a loan that won’t burden the state budget or the strategic partner’s liquidity, or we will opt for a bankruptcy,” Horvat told reporters after the meeting.
More news about Croatia’s troubled shipbuilding industry can be found in the Business section.
