March 6 (SeeNews) - Serbia's economy ministry is close to signing an agreement for the sale of copper miner and smelter RTB Bor to one of the largest Chinese mining companies, according to Serbian media reports.
The government is in intensive talks with Chinese companies for the privatisation of RTB Bor under a model similar to the one used in the sale of Serbian steel mill Zelezara Smederevo to China's Hesteel in 2016, public broadcaster Radio Televizije Srbije (RTS) quoted unnamed sources at the economy ministry as saying on Monday.
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On Friday, Serbian daily Blic quoted the state secretary at the ministry, Milun Trivunac, as saying that the government expects to have good news about the privatisation of RTB Bor after the official visit of Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic to China, to take place before Nikolic's term of office expires in May.
In January, RTB Bor called a tender for a consultant to advise the company on a project for attracting a strategic investor. The consultant will be in charge of the preparation and execution of transactions with potential investors.
In July, a Zajecar court approved the restructuring plan of RTB Bor allowing the write-off of 90% of the company's unsecured debt. Under the plan, the remaining 10%, or 300 million euro ($317.6 million), will be paid back over the next eight years with a one-year grace period, and the secured debt will be converted into equity.
($ = 0.944434 euro)