Trade unions at Kremikovtzi urge Bulgarian ministries to choose new operator

Wednesday, 07 January 2009 13:22:35 (GMT+2)

Trade unions at Bulgaria's largest steel mill, Kremikovtzi, intend to organize more protests unless negotiations with bidders for the mill are resumed and a new strategic operator for the mill is chosen by January 10, 2009.

According to Bulgaria‘s Ministry of Economy, up to the end of December 2008 a total of seven bidders had officially expressed interest in acquiring or operating the insolvent steel mill. Among the companies in question are the Ukrainian company Smart Group, which earlier announced its intention to invest about €200 million in the expansion of the mill, Bulgarian metals group Intertrust Holding BG which belongs to Kremikovtzi's former owner Valentin Zahariev, Bulgarian company Ekometanengineering Single Member Ltd, Czech investment company LM Moran, German management consulting firm AT Kearney, Italian company Lavfer S.f.A., and Russian investment company Prominvest.

Meanwhile, Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) has become the eighth bidder, expressing its intention to invest in the coming four years a total of $400 million in the Bulgarian steel mill, and has decided to submit an official offer for the purchase of the plant.

The bids from the companies seeking to acquire or operate Kremikovtzi are being analyzed by a working group, comprising a team of experts from the Bulgarian ministries of economy and energy, finance, justice, labor and social policy and environment, as well as from Kremikovtzi's management team and its bankruptcy officer Tsvetan Bankov.

Talks with two candidates to operate Kremikovtzi, CSN and Smart Group, were carried out up to the end of 2008.

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