Bosnia’s Muslim Croat Federation government extended by three months
the deadline for the privatization of its sole aluminium smelter
Aluminij Mostar for technical reasons, Prime Minister Nedzad Brankovic
said.
“This was a necessary formality since the agreement (with
the Aluminij’s management) on the sale of the plant has expired,”
Brankovic told a news conference.
“We did it to provide the privatization commission with more time to evaluate the bids for the 88 percent stake.”
Greek
metals, energy and engineering group Mytilineos, Swiss-based
commodities trader Glencore and Britain’s En+ Group have applied for
the stake. All have conditioned the bids on cheap power supplies which
the cabinet is unlikely to approve.
Brankovic said that apart
from the power price, the commission also needed to resolve with
bidders some outstanding issues related to environmental requirements
they must meet.
“None of them has explained yet to the commission the part of their bids which relates to the power and ecology,” he said.
Privatization
agency head Enes Ganic said bidders linked the power cost with the
price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange and future investments
were conditional on low power prices.
He said only the government
could decide to annul the tender or subsidize Aluminij, if it
considered its privatization to be of strategic importance.