PODGORICA (Montenegro), October 24 (SeeNews) – Montenegro on Wednesday offered for sale its 75% stake in agriculture company Montepranzo-Bokaprodukt without setting a minimum price but requiring the future buyer to transform the firm into a tourism operator.
The company's main asset is the ownership of more than two million square metres of land in the municipalities of Tivat and Kotor, on the Adriatic coast, including some 800,000 square metres located across the airport of Tivat, one of the two airports of the country of 620,000 people. Tivat aiport is located five kilometres from the major resort of Kotor and 20 kilometres from another big Montenegrin resort, Budva.
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The state-owned stake is distributed into 84,268 shares, the Montenegrin Agency for Economic Restructuring and Foreign Investments said in a tender notice. Local businessman Veselin Barovic owsn 15% of the company, while the remainder is in the hands of small shareholders.
Company stock traded at 220 euro ($285) on the Montenegro Stock Exchange on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous close.
Interested bidders face a January 22 deadline to file their bids, the government agency said.
The company’s future business should be oriented to high quality tourism services, including the construction of a golf course and introduction of all services and professional management accompanying it.
Companies from Russia, the Netherlands and Ireland already present in Montenegro, and Canadian billionaire Peter Mank, owner of the Tivat shipyard, are among those interested in the assets of Montepranzo-Bokaprodukt, local media reported.
Montenegro's Tourism Ministry has projected a rise in tourism revenue by 21% to some 645 million euro this year. It expects the sector to generate 20.7% of the Montenegro's gross domestic product in 2007. It also expects the tourism revenue of the tiny Adriatic country to rise 1.968 billion euro in 2017, generating 27.1% of GDP.
($ = 0.7018 euro)