ZAGREB, December 21, 2018 – The supervisory board of the Uljanik shipyard has decided to terminate the strategic partnership with Danko Končar and his Kermas Energija company, and seek another partner who will be willing to invest in the shipyard’s restructuring, the Pula-based shipyard said on Friday.
The decision was made at a joint meeting of the shipyard’s supervisory and management boards on Friday. The agreement with Kermas Energija was reached on March 28.
Uljanik invited all interested investors to express their interest in a strategic partnership and recapitalisation in accordance with decisions reached at shareholders’ meetings of February 16 and October 16 this year. A data room will be opened for all prospective strategic partners.
The shop steward of the Metal Workers’ Union, Đino Šverko, hailed the decision, saying that “any progress is welcome for the shipyard.”
“This decision could have been taken six months ago. The question now is how the workers will survive the next five weeks. They don’t have any more time to wait. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of blame shifting lately,” Šverko said.
The head of the strike committee, Boris Cerovac, also welcomed the decision, saying that “the trade unions were always against Danko Končar and his Kermas Energija being Uljanik’s strategic partner.”
“This decision should have been taken six months ago, but obviously it didn’t suit someone. Someone wanted us to disappear, they wanted workers to give notice of their own accord. This decision is good, but what will happen if we don’t find a strategic partner?” Cerovac wondered.
More news on the Uljanik shipyard can be found in our Business section.
