November 23 (SeeNews) - Turkish holding company Yildirim wants Croatian mineral fertiliser producer Petrokemija, which it is acquiring, to resume production in the first quarter of next year, Croatian media reported.
“We want to make Petrokemija an important producer of mineral fertilisers in Europe and we want to export, which requires to increase capacity. In order to achieve that, we have to invest. Our intention is to restart production as soon as possible, along with the usual conditions for operation,” public broadcaster HRT quoted the CEO of the Turkish holding, Robert Yuksel Yildirim, as saying on Tuesday.
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Petrokemija stopped production eight months ago faced with a surge of natural gas prices, its main raw material.
Earlier this month, Croatian oil and gas company INA said that, together with local gas company Prvo Plinarsko Drustvo (PPD), it has signed a deal to sell their joint venture Terra Mineralna Gnojiva, which owns a majority stake in Petrokemija, to Yildirim. The deal is pending approvals by the relevant Croatian and European regulators.
The new owner plans Petrokemija to produce mineral fertilisers at its full capacity of one million tonnes per year.
Terra Mineralna Gnojiva acquired 54.52% equity interest in Petrokemija in 2018 through a capital increase of 300 million kuna ($41 million/40 million euro), it was reported earlier.
(1 euro = 7.542 Croatian kuna)