Banks consortuim requires to cancel Sartid’s sale to US Steel
An international banking consortium members have stated that they require from the Serbian government to cancel the $21.3 million sale of steel producer Sartid to
US Steel.
Furthermore, representatives of Bank Austrai, part of
Germany's HVB Group (HVMG),
Germany's West LB and
France's BNP Paribas (BNPP) have also announced that they wanted from
Serbia to find new investors.
In addition, banks also stated that the
US Steel's offer for the purchase of Sartid's assets were not good enough. Also, Sartid's $1.7 billion liabilities and other obligations in the sale in April this year were not assumed by
US Steel.
As a result of this, the banks are waiting for
Serbia's decision about the subject. If
Serbia inverses the proposal of banks consortium, the banks will take further legal steps.
Serbian government has stated that it had every right to negotiate Sartid's sale without seeking a tender.
The banks also said that
Belgium's KBC (KBKBt) and South
Africa's Standart Bank (SBKJ) have $100 million in claims against Sartid from a revolving trade financing facility.
However,
Serbia has made an announcement on August 2002 that state owned Sartid bankruptcy and gave creditors sixty day deadline to report their claims.
Before the bankruptcy, Sartid has signed a one year agreement to process steel products for
US Steel's Slovak unit. Therefore,
US Steel took the priority access for any restructuring of Sartid.