March 8 (SeeNews) - Croatia's center for enterprise restructuring and privatisation, CERP, has invited expressions of interest in the purchase of minority stakes owned by the state in 60 companies.
The stakes up for sale range from 0.001% in Osijek-based daily Glas Slavonije to 23.42% in furniture manufacturer Sigma Zagreb, and have a combined value of tens of millions of kuna, CERP says in several notices published on its website
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
Potential investors have until March 16 to express their interest in buying stakes in 57 of the listed companies, after which CERP will launch public bidding procedures.
The government stakes in the three remaining companies will be sold via direct sales. These include a 0.19% holding in water park Aquae Vivae, a 14.14% share in viticulture, olive growing and cattle breeding company Agrolaguna and a 10.83% stake in construction firm GOI.
Potential buyers have until March 31 to express interest in Aquae Vivae and GOI, while the deadline for the purchase of the state stake in Agrolaguna is March 24.
Earlier this year, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) invited expressions of interest from consultants to support CERP in improving the governance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
According to European Commission estimates, employment in SOEs represents 12% of overall employment, while they generate 18% of the total turnover and account for 30% of total assets in Croatia.