October 25 (SeeNews) - The unfinished self-propelled cutter suction dredger built by Croatia's indebted shipyard Uljanik for Luxembourg-based Jan De Nul Group has been sold for 794 million kuna ($118.5 million/106.5 million euro) via an online auction, local media reported.
The buyer is still unknown, but is believed to be Jan De Nul itself, state broadcaster HRT reported on Thursday.
Earlier this year, the Croatian government had to pay 900 million kuna in activated state guarantee to Jan De Nul after Uljanik failed to deliver on its shipbuilding contract with the company.
Subsequently, the commercial court in Pazin launched in May bankruptcy proceedings against Uljanik Shipyard and the umbrella company Uljanik Group over their financial woes.
The court set in July the value of the unfinished dredger built by Uljanik for Jan De Nul Group at 1.59 billion kuna, saying its sale will be carried out by the country's financial agency Fina via an online auction.
According to the court decision, when the tender is called the unfinished dredger cannot be sold at a price lower than 3/4 of the value determined by the court, or 794.2 million kuna.
(1 euro = 7.45336 kuna)