Serbia Invites Bids for 25 Percent Stake in Galenika Drug Maker
Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Serbia has invited bids for a 25 percent stake in its Galenika pharmaceutical company, the government's latest attempt to attract new investment into the state-run group which has debts of $220 million.
In an advertisement in Belgrade's Politika daily, the Economy Ministry invited domestic or foreign strategic partners to invest at least 7 million euros ($8 million) in the company, which operates several drug manufacturing plants, for a period of at least five years.
The deadline for submitting bids was set for May 4.
The tender is part of Serbia's efforts to sell off unprofitable state firms as a condition of a 1.2 billion euro ($1.36 billion) loan deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Other assets to be sold or slimmed down include the RTB Bor copper mine, the Zelezara Smederevo steel mill and the Resavica coal mine.
Under the terms of the Galenika tender, prospective bidders must be companies with 2015 revenues of no less than 50 million euros and assets worth more than 100 million euros.
Bidders are each required to nominate a team of five experts to manage the company.
Of Galenika's $220 million debt, $50 million is owed to commercial banks and the rest to the state. According to the latest data reported on its web site, Galenika in 2014 posted a net loss of 3.1 billion dinars ($288.2 million) on revenues of 5.3 billion dinars.
A proposed $8.7 million sale of Galenika to Valeant failed in June 2013, as the Canadian company pulled out amid protests by the Serbian company's unions against the then government's privatisation efforts.
In 2013, Serbian police arrested eight former Galenika managers after prosecutors charged them with abuse of office and embezzling 12 million euros in 2008 and 2009.
Source : reuters.com
