Swiss company 8B Capital is now the sole contender in the race to lease the facilities of the Nikšić Ironworks in Montenegro. A consortium of companies from the Czech Republic, China, and Neksan, the business of Nikšić entrepreneur Miodrag Davidović, as well as the Swedish Uber Nordik, have been disqualified due to unacceptable conditions they presented to the management of Elektroprivreda Crne Gore.
Representative of the Swiss company, Igor Šamiz, has so far submitted the most concrete offer, according to Elektroprivreda statements. If it meets all criteria, this would mark his return to the Nikšić factory after more than 20 years when he was part of the management of the Russian company Midlend.
After the submission and review of offers, it is evident after almost a month and a half of waiting that Neksan, along with partners from the Czech Republic and China, and the Swedish Uber Nordik, will not have the opportunity to lease the facilities of the Steel Plant, Foundry, and Nikšić Ironworks.
The conditions set by these companies during negotiations were simply unacceptable, according to the management of Elektroprivreda Crne Gore.
One offer was conditioned by 100 million EUR in state guarantees, and the other by alleged approval and permission from Elektroprivreda for the construction of 140 MW of renewable energy sources, including 90 solar and 40 wind power plants. Neksan requested the latter, and in the first case, I am referring to Uber Nordik – said the Assistant Financial Director of EPCG, Miro Vračar.
Thus, only the Swiss company 8B Capital remains in the race for the Ironworks facilities, whose representative Igor Šamiz has already been in the management of the Ironworks twice in the early 2000s, with the Russian company Midlend.
He was the president of the board of directors in the Ironworks for the second time, in one of the organizational units of the Midlend style, and the first time as a representative of Midlend in the Ironworks, where we have information that this is one of the managerial structures that performed best in 2001 and 2002 – Vračar said.
Šamiz is familiar with business in this region, as he was at the helm of the Šibenik aluminum giant a decade ago, and was under investigation by the local judiciary for alleged unlawful actions in business operations, as reported by Croatian media. However, being the only contender does not guarantee that Elektroprivreda will accept the offer from the Swiss company.
For now, we are still examining everything; we will not have any objections to this procedure tomorrow, neither from the public, nor from the state, nor from the workers. Before entering into an obligation with the bidder, we are trying to verify many things and come to a clear position from which we can sign the contract – Vračar said.
In their offer, the Swiss mentioned that they would initially attempt to achieve continuous production cycles in three shifts and a monthly output of 2,500 finished products.
Production would start with 25 engaged workers, increasing to 150 by the sixth month of the lease.
