July 11 (SeeNews) - The sale of Bosnian steel foundry Jelsingrad Livar has attracted the interest of two bidders, local media reported.
"I have received information from the Livar Group that two companies have applied for the share purchase but all further details remain a business secret for the time being," news daily Glas Srpske quoted the director general of Jelsingrad Livar, Miodrag Brdar, as saying on Wednesday.
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The majority owner Livar, one of Slovenia's largest foundries, has offered for sale on the Banja Luka Stock Exchange its 68% stake in the Bosnian company divided into 23.99 million shares. The deadline for submitting bids expired on July 4, Glas Srpske said.
Brdar said that Jelsingrad Livar operates at full capacity at present and has agreed orders by the end of October.
"We produce 120 tonnes of steel per month at present and plan to increase production to 150 tonnes by the end of the year," he added.
Jelsingrad Livar employs 146. The foundry exports 75% of its products to Western Europe, mostly to Italy, Germany, Spain and France.
Slovenia's Livar became majority owner of Jelsingrad in 2005 during a privatisation process.
Jelsingrad Livar narrowed its loss to 2.7 million marka ($1.55 million/1.38 million euro) last year from 3.4 million marka in 2017 as revenue rose faster than costs.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)