February 24 (SeeNews) - Officials of Israel's M.T. Abraham Group will visit Bosnia later this week to hold talks on their leasehold plans for ailing Aluminij with the government of Bosnia's Federation entity, local media reported.
On February 21, the majority of Aluminij's shareholders including the Federation government voted against a proposal by M.T. Abraham and its Chinese partners for a long-term lease of Aluminij's production assets, saying the document contains legal and technical errors.
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Following the vote, M.T. Abraham said in a statement its management and its legal team will arrive in Mostar, where Aluminij is based, on February 28 to discuss the government's comments on their proposal, news wire Indikator.ba reported on Sunday.
The Israeli company officials also plan to hold a meeting with Aluminij's workers on March 1 to answer their questions concerning the leasehold contract and their strategic plans.
On Friday, the Federation's energy minister Nermin Dzindic said the Federation is giving 30 days to the management and supervisory boards of Aluminij and to all participants in the process to correct the errors in their proposal.
The Federation's government controls 44% of Aluminij, followed by the government of neighbouring Croatia with 12%, with the remainder held by smaller shareholders. The Federation is one of two autonomous entities forming Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.
According to a separate report of Indikator.ba, only 22% of Aluminij's shareholders, including the Croatian government, voted in favour of the Israeli proposal on Friday.
In December, M.T. Abraham said that together with its partners, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering & Construction (NFC), it has submitted a second and final proposal for leasing Aluminij's production assets, which was revised and amended to take into account the remarks of the Federation government on its original proposal submitted in October and rejected by the entity's government.
"M.T. Abraham Group and its partners are ready and willing to immediately start implementing the strategic plan. If our final proposal is accepted, our professional teams, partners and resources are available and ready to move forward without further delay," it has said.
Even though it did not reveal any details of the proposal, M.T. Abraham has noted that its primary objective is to reactivate and stabilise the existing smelter operations, introduce new operational efficiencies, open a new modern production line and enhance management practices in order to ensure long-term stability and profitability.
Aluminij shut down operations in July after its power supply was cut off due to swelling unpaid bills. Following the shutdown, the Federation's government decided that Aluminij should continue to operate and come up with a rescue plan by the end of 2019.