The tender for the acquisition of Petrohemija, the petrochemical giant from the town of Pančevo, will have been launched by the end of the year.
Investors from Russia, Poland and Romania are interested in acquiring the Pančevo-based company, with the representatives of the Romanian investors visiting the company today.
The government has been preparing to privatize Petrohemija for some time, but it’s not in a hurry. Potential investors are searching for the best privatization model for Petrohemija.
“I expect that all the negotiations and analyses that potential investors can and should do, will result in something tangible this year and that we will be able to launch a public call by the end of this year on the basis of that,” said the State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy, Dragan Stevanović.
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While waiting for investors, Petrohemija underwent an overhaul recently and has embarked on the, biggest investments in the past three decades with the view of increasing the production by 23%.
“The investments stand at about EUR 18 million, with EUR 2 million spent on the overhaul alone”, says Petrohemija’s CEO, Velimir Unković.
The company plans to install a fourth production line and a new packaging line in its ethylene factory by October, and they will also get a new control system.
“The quality of production has always been our imperative, in addition to the safety of the factory itself,” says the general manager at the ethylene factory, Predrag Bulić.
Unković says that the purpose of the implemented investment activities is to increase the efficiency of the production process, to ensure lower energy consumption and therefore better competitiveness in the market through a lower cost price.
With support from the state authorities, Petrohemija was successfully reorganized. Today, it has 1,450 employees and has been recording positive business for the past five years.
The government is looking for a partner that would provide additional investment capital, expand Petrohemija’s capacity and improve its position in the global market. In order to achieve this, it has been estimated that a total of EUR 150 million should be spent on building a new polypropylene factory, which is expected from the future owner.
(eKapija, 28.05.2019)
https://www.ekapija.com/news/2518329/petrohemiju-merkaju-rusi-poljaci-i-rumuni-tender-do-kraja-2019
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