ZAGREB, February 13, 2019 – Economy Minister Darko Horvat said on Tuesday that at the moment the government did not have a final decision as to whether Uljanik shipyard would go bankrupt or be bailed out, and described figures that are being mentioned in the media as the government’s cost to restructure Uljanik as unverified.
Asked what costs of Uljanik’s restructure the state would consider realistic and acceptable, Horvat said that he would not bother to explain the figure of 10 billion kuna being mentioned in the media.
He recalled that so far the state had issued and paid guarantees in the amount of 2.86 billion kuna and that a further 1.7 billion kuna was “hanging in the air if we don’t complete the four ships that are at a high stage of being equipped.”
According to Horvat, one of those ships currently requires 22 million euro.
If we invest in the completion of that ship, that would release the state from the obligation of paying 126 million euro in guarantees. As far as guarantees are concerned, the situation with the other three ships is somewhat easier and an additional 700 million kuna in guarantees is required, Horvat said.
Asked how negotiations with creditors were going regarding the unblocking of the 3. Maj dock’s account, which, if not unblocked, will lead to the dock’s bankruptcy, Horvat said that the shipyard’s management was currently meeting with his assistant Zvonimir Novak and that one of the topics at that technical meeting was the unblocking of the account.
“Unblocking the account of the Rijeka-based shipyard requires about 107 million kuna while the account of the Pula dock (Uljanik) requires an additional 86 million kuna to be unblocked,” Horvat said.
He announced that a team of representatives of the economy and finance ministries, Uljanik’s management board and the selected strategic partner would go to Brussels to meet with officials of the European Commission and discuss “interim financing that would possibly include the strategic partner.”
More news on the Uljanik shipyard can be found in the Business section.
