ZAGREB, Feb 20 (Hina) - A business analysis of 823 companies from the Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) portfolio in which the state has up to 25-percent interest will be made within one year at the most and provide the basis for
proposals on how to step up the privatisation of these companies.
ZAGREB, Feb 20 (Hina) - A business analysis of 823 companies from the
Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) portfolio in which the state has up
to 25-percent interest will be made within one year at the most and
provide the basis for proposals on how to step up the privatisation of
these companies.#L#
The analysis is part of a programme for the reorganisation, management
and privatisation of the state portfolio which the HFP management
board chairman, Deputy Prime Minister Andrija Hebrang, presented at
the open-door part of the new board's first session on Friday.
The programme comprises a series of procedures aimed at stepping up
the privatisation of the state portfolio, the cause of which is "the
desire to become negotiators for European Union membership as soon as
possible, in a few months' time," said Hebrang.
The programme envisages the gradual transfer of portfolio management
from the HFP to the State Office for Property Management and the
eventual closure of the HFP, Hebrang said.
He explained this meant centralising state portfolio management and
privatisation, which is currently managed by the HFP, the State Office
for Property Management and the newly-established government
commission for property, which is chaired by Prime Minister Ivo
Sanader.
There are 1,132 companies in the HFP portfolio whose stock capital
totals 65.5 billion kuna (EUR8.5 billion). The state's part-ownership
in 823 is less than 25 percent, in 144 it ranges between 25 and 49
percent, in 135 it is between 50 and 99 percent, while 30 companies
are wholly state-owned.
All companies' liabilities total 10.5 billion kuna (EUR 1.4 billion),
87 companies are overindebted, while 75 are not engaged in any
economic activity.
Following the examination of the main reasons for the slow
privatisation of companies in which the state has more than 25 percent
in shares, faster privatisation programmes will be proposed. Hebrang
said emigrants would be intensively engaged in the privatisation of
those companies as soon as public tenders were invited.
(Hina) ha sb