May 12 (SeeNews) - Russian railway engineering company RZD International plans to acquire a majority stake in an unnamed Serbian railway infrastructure firm in the first half of 2017, Russian media has reported.
"We have already approved the acquisition and will purchase a majority stake," Russian news agency TASS quoted the vice president of RZD, the parent of RZD International, Aleksandr Misharin, as saying on Thursday.
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Last week, the managing director of RZD International, Sergey Pavlov, said the company plans to set up a flexible and well-structured company in Serbia that will be able to carry out complex railway infrastructure works.
Serbia expects the unbundling of national railway operator Zeleznice Srbije into four smaller companies will allow for the privatisation of assets worth 16 billion dinars ($141.3 million/129.9 million euro), infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said in March.
RZD International said in April it had completed ahead of schedule the rehabilitation of three sections of the southern part of Corridor X under a $38 million contract with state-run railway infrastructure operator Infrastruktura Zeleznice Srbije.
Corridor X is projected to connect Salzburg in Austria to the Greek port of Thessaloniki, passing through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia.
(1 euro = 123.162 dinars)