A Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the HFP Steering Board, Damir Polancec, said the signing of the agreement completed a very important privatisation case and put an end to the agony of 1,209 employees of the Sisak company and 207 workers of Remont Caprag.
Under an agreement signed between CMI and the trade unions operating in the Sisak company, CMI will keep all the 1,209 workers at VCS and 207 workers at Remont Caprag for the next three years. The Swiss company will invest HRK 206 million in VCS property and HRK 300 million in working capital.
One of CMI's conditions for the payment of the full sale price of HRK 37 million was the cancellation of VCS's agreement on exclusive distribution with the Pipex company, a provision that was included in today's agreement.
Polancec recalled that CMI is a Swiss branch of the Commercial Metals Company, a strong US company with a high rating and possibly one of the best bidders in the privatisation process in Croatia so far.
Polancec added that VCS's operating plan would now have to be adjusted to the national programme of restructuring of the iron and steel industry and the Agreement on Stabilisation and Association with the EU.
Asked about the resumption of the privatisation process following a recent corruption scandal in the HFP, Polancec said that the Ministry of the Interior and the State Prosecutor's Office had confiscated several privatisation files from the HFP, but were requested to return the files concerning companies which must be privatised, Polancec said, adding that the privatisation process was expected to resume in several days.
Asked about the reason for a delay in privatisation, he said one of the reasons was the fact that the HFP's software was blocked after the anti-corruption operation "Maestro".