Minister Darko Horvat revealed that Smart Holding, Fincantieri, Royal IHC and Damen were all interested in the heavily burdened Uljanik, but one of them has already stepped down and away from the whole idea.
As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of October, 2018, the Commercial Court has no particular time frame in which it has to do it, but due to the continued difficulties Uljanik is facing, it is more than likely that by the end of the week, a temporary supervisory board within the company will be appointed. To be slightly more specific, two members are needed to allow Uljanik to have a minimum of three members of its supervisory board in order to function.
Who will formally nominate the candidates for the aforementioned positions at the court in Pazin remains unknown. It could be an existing member of the board or it could be a shareholder.
With the upcoming nomination of new supervisory board members for Uljanik, a decision on the resignation of the current administration led by Gianni Rossanda should be logical thing to consider next. It is therefore expected that the appointment of v.d president of the board will take place, followed by the opening up of both Uljanik and the May 3 shipyard in Rijeka to any potential strategic partners. In other words, the story would return to, if not the very beginning, then to an earlier stage of the process of preparing a restructuring program for the ailing shipyard.
Economy Minister Darko Horvat has revealed he is currently negotiating with four interested investors – Ukrainian Smart Holding, Italian Fincantieri, and Dutch shipbuilders Damen and Royal IHC. As confirmed by the competent Ministry, one of them has reported that they have already given up, and that is Damen, which is known for having taken over numerous shipyards in Romania.
The question remains as to whether the remaining investors will talk about partnerships for both shipyards or separately, and judging by some of Horvat’s earlier statements, the interest would appeae to be primarily focused on Rijeka’s May 3. These new circumstances include, first and foremost, getting approval of the changes which should be followed by a new restructuring model from Brussels.
Click here for the original article by Marija Brnic for Poslovni Dnevnik
