In the negotiations with the Polish OT Logistics about the Port of Bar, there was room to reach even better conditions in terms of price and investment, especially if it is known how much they paid for the minority package of the Port of Rijeka, said the representative of the minority shareholders on the board of the Port of Bar, Aleksandar Jovović.
He told "Vijesti" that if there was an error in the tender procedure for the sale of 30 percent of the shares of Luka Bar, the Privatization Council and the Tender Commission should have reacted earlier and canceled the tender. "The potential of Luka Bar is huge, it is indisputable that it should be valorized even better. Also, I believe that the cancellation of the tender with the possible announcement of a new one in the foreseeable future, when the business rises to an even higher level, will certainly affect the increase in the attractiveness of Luka Bar and the increase in interest in it, and that in that case, through the competition of more bidders, a better price would be achieved ", stated Jovović.
During the negotiations, OTL increased the purchase price for 30 percent of Luka's shares from 7,1 million to 8,52 million euros, and reduced the three-year investment from 17 to 14 million euros.
"The business of Luka Bar is improving rapidly from year to year, it is the result of the work of the existing management. It is true that most of the revenue is currently from the reprolan Uniprom, but that only shows that there is a lot of room for improvement and growth because the Port of Bar was built for the needs of the region and not only for the needs of the Montenegrin economy", added Jovović.
He believes that with the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Bar railway, Luka Bar will become even more competitive.
He pointed out that the Port has extremely valuable peripheral assets that do not serve its core business (Hotel Sidro, real estate, land outside the port area), the sale of which could accumulate money for the necessary further investments.
Prime Minister Duško Marković said yesterday that his position and that of former Prime Minister Milo Đukanović regarding the cancellation of the tender for Luka Bar do not differ.
"There is no difference in the attitude of the two of us. Privatization is not stopped but postponed. The bidder is credible and we remain in contact with him, but we are not satisfied with the bid. I hope that the decision of the Privatization Council will be confirmed by the Government," said Marković.
He said that the cancellation of the tender was not because of the investor, but because of the offer.
"I guess we have the right to appreciate that, to say that it is not an offer that satisfies our economic and state interests and that we want to get to a situation where we will get a better and better offer for the indisputable resource we have," said Marković.
Due to the cancellation of the tender for the sale of 30 percent of the shares of Luka Bar, the price of the shares on the Montenegro Stock Exchange continued to fall by an additional 6,85 percent yesterday, to an average of 30,6 cents per share.
The seriousness of OTL's offer and their intentions in Montenegro is also indicated by the official letter sent on April 20 by the head of the Polish company, Zbigniev Novik, to the Minister of Education, Damir Šehović.
The Poles knew that the age structure of the Ports of Bar and Montecargo was unfavorable and they planned, as in other countries where they operate, to financially support the development of education for the formation of professional port and railway personnel.
The Montekargo union is satisfied with the Council's decision
The head of the Montecargo union, Milenko Klikovac, told "Vijesta" that the company's workers are satisfied with the decision to cancel the tender for the sale of 51 percent of the company's shares.
"That's what we asked for. This partner did not convince us that he has extensive experience with rail transport, which we told them. Our turnover is growing and this month it will be between 800.000 and a million euros. Among other things, we transport iron, coke, oil and sugar to Albania. Two of our locomotives are already being overhauled, after which the other two will be overhauled as well," said Klikovac, who is a train driver in this company.
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