December 4 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government will call new tenders for the sale of the country's six state-owned shipyards on January 6, after the first attempt proved unsuccessful, state-run Hina news agency reported.
The privatisation of the shipyards is a key requirement in the country's accession talks with the European Union. Croatia's struggling shipbuilding industry, kept afloat mostly by government subsidies, is one of the country’s major employers and exporters. The EU has repeatedly asked Zagreb to cut handouts to the sector to comply with competition rules in the bloc.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
The government on Thursday turned down the bids for two of the shipyards, which were filed in the first round of privatisation, as they failed to meet the conditions of the tender, Hina reported. Local company More Trogir Slobodana Ljubicica has bid for the Brodotrogir shipyard, and Adria-mar company has placed a bid for for the Brodosplit BSO shipyard.
Earlier, a bid for the 3.Maj shipyard was rejected as invalid. No bids were placed for the Uljanik, Kraljevica and Brodosplit shipyards.
Now, the government has instructed the Croatian Privatisation Fund to prepare the documents needed for the second round of privatisation of the shipyards, Hina (www.hina.hr) said.
The bidding deadline in the first tender, called in late July, expired on September 30.