Dutch shipyards, Damen and Royal IHC, denied on Wednesday they were interested in investing in the struggling Croatian Uljanik shipyard, a day after Croatian Economy Minister Darko Horvat had told N1 that the docks were preparing a joint bid for a partnership with the Pula-based Uljanik.
Speaking in N1’s Newsroom programme on Tuesday, Horvat said that, apart from the Italian Fincantieri and Ukraine’s Smartholding, new potential investors had expressed interest in investing in the two collapsing shipyards, Uljanik in Pula and 3. Maj in Rijeka, both part of the Uljanik Group.
“Two very interesting shipyards, Damen and Royaql IHC, are preparing a joint bid,” Horvat had said.
N1 reached out to both companies for comment on Wednesday.
“We distance ourselves from any rumours that there will be a joint bid between royal IHC and Damen for any of the shipyards and in general we are not interested in any bids for Croatian shipyards,” the spokeswoman for Royal IHC, Charlotte Geerdink, told N1, adding she had not heard anything about the potential Damien bid for the Uljanik group.
When asked to comment on Royal IHC’s response, the Economy ministry told N1 that they had no knowledge of Royal IHC’s lack of interest in presenting the bid, while the talks with Damen were still ongoing and that Damen had initially asked for confirmation on whether a joint bid would even be acceptable to the ministry, for which they received a positive response.
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Damen had also responded to N1’s query, saying there was no plan for a joint bid with Royal IHC for the shipyards in Croatia.
“Damen shipyards has no interest in the Croatian shipyards in Rijeka and Pula. We understand from the Croatian press that the future for the Pula and Rijeka shipyards is not looking good,” Damen said.
In January 2018, the government agreed to issue a €96 million guarantee for a bank loan Uljanik management wanted to borrow, under the condition that within six months they find another company willing to invest in the dock.
In March, Kermas Energija, a smaller shipbuilding company owned by Croatian entrepreneur Danko Koncar, was selected as Uljanik’s strategic partner, but in December, the supervisory board of the Uljanik shipyard has decided to terminate the strategic partnership with Kermas Energija and seek another partner who will be willing to invest in the shipyard’s restructuring.
In the meantime Uljanik management drafted another restructuring plan worth at first €584 million which they sent to Zagreb, expecting the government and the partner to jointly burden the cost. The plan was however rejected by Brussels which sent 75 objections to it. The management then came up with new versions of the plan, which in the process is rumoured to have swelled to some €1.3 billion by December.
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