January 5 (SeeNews) - There are many investors interested in leasing the steel and forge capacities of Montenegrin steelworks EPCG Zeljezara Niksic, part of state-owned power utility EPCG, the president of EPCG's board of directors was cited as saying by local media.
“To our surprise, we have a lot of interested parties [in the capacities] and we expect that it we will come to a successful realisation,” Milutin Djukanovic was quoted as saying by state broadcaster RTCG on Thursday.
EPCG Zeljezara Niksic has called a public invitation for the lease of its capacities to preserve the production of steel, with the deadline for the submission of bids set for January 25.
The lease will be granted for a minimum period of five years, with a possibility to extend the contract.
In July, EPCG Zeljezara Niksic was quoted as saying by local media that the eventual leasing of the steelworks and forges is possible if it turns out that EPCG Zeljezara Niksic is unable to put the said facilities into operation through its own efforts.
Located in the western city of Niksic, EPCG Zeljezara Niksic has two 60-tonne electric arc furnaces that can produce an estimated 300,000 metric tonnes per year of crude steel.
EPCG acquired Zeljezara Niksic from Turkey's Toscelik for 20 million euro ($21.8 million) in December 2022.
$ = 0.9164 euro