Tomislav Debeljak voices his opinion on Uljanik’s woes.
Tomislav Debeljak has stated that the fact that the management which caused Uljanik’s problems gets to decide on who will recapitalise it, is a little strange. Debeljak failed to become Uljanik’s strategic partner on Wednesday, losing out to Danko Končar, as his offer of more than 300 million kuna was considered to simply not be enough.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 29th of March, 2018, following on from his veritable “defeat” in the Uljanik bid, Debeljak told RTL that the news came as both a disappointment and a sigh of relief, and he believed that the “3. Maj” shipyard (for which he was offering another 300 million kuna) was “a bombon of privatisation” because it’s possible to save it without the help of the state, which is otherwise necessary for Uljanik.
Referencing the aforementioned fact that the management which took the ailing Uljanik into its current quagmire of financial and operational problems got to decide over the recapitalisation, Debeljak noted that this was all a bit odd.
”It’s a bit strange, but later, at some point, it will be necessary to sit down with the state, and to agree on restructuring for the sake of the workers. Is it odd? Yes, it is a bit,” added Debeljak.
Responding to the question of whether Europe has any interest whatsoever in Croatia’s shipbuilding industry, Debeljak said: “If we were attractive, there’d be more offers, but in any case, there might be a negative connotation about the shipyards in general in Croatia, but in Brodosplit we proved that we can work successfully,”
He also commented on the construction of Pelješac Bridge.
“The firm that’s running and leased isn’t too expensive, it has good references and it will certainly do things well and within the agreed time, and we have a great chance to do a good deal of work, Croatian suppliers could be responsible for up to 50 percent of it,” concluded Debeljak.
