December 19 (SeeNews) - Romanian private rail group Grampet is not satisfied with the pace at which the privatization of Croatian rail freight carrier HZ Cargo is proceeding and has asked the government in Zagreb to speed up the process, Croatian media reported on Thursday.
In July, the Croatian government said it had accepted the offer for a 75% stake in HZ Cargo submitted by Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR), part of Grampet Group.
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Earlier this month, news daily Vecernji List reported that the stake sale talks between the Croatian government and GFR have run into a number of issues, including a sale contract proposed by the buyer that the government in Zagreb is not happy with.
Grampet expects feedback from the Croatian government on its request for additional information on HZ Cargo as soon as possible, state-run broadcaster HRT reported on Thursday, quoting unnamed sources from the Romanian company.
The sources further said the data was requested back in October, when the government submitted a draft privatization contract, but that the response, which arrived in late November, did not contain all the requested data.
One aspect of HZ Cargo's business that is of particular interest to the Romanian buyer are the company's real estate holdings and their exact ownership structure. Concerns have been voiced also over the Croatian company's redundancy program, as well as litigation procedures in which HZ Cargo is involved.
As part of its winning bid, GFR offered to pay a total of 40 million euro ($54.7 million) for the HZ Cargo stake and to invest 20 million euro in the modernisation of the freight carrier's rolling stock.
($=7.6329 Croatian kuna)