DIV will pay HRK 3.7 million for a 99.78 per cent stake in the dock, undertaking to implement an approved restructuring programme.
The contract was signed by Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak on behalf of Croatia and the other shareholders, DIV Brodogradnja d.o.o. Board chairman Tomislav Debeljak, and Div d.o.o. Board member Darko Pappo.
The contract and the restructuring plan include a model for the payment of the restructuring costs, which exceed HRK 13 billion, over five years. DIV must make the last restructuring payment by 28 February 2018 and the restructuring is to be completed in 2022.
In the period 2013-17, DIV's instalments will be HRK 125 million, HRK 345 million, HRK 460 million, HRK 520 million and HRK 540 million, while the state's instalments will be HRK 480 million, HRK 270 million, HRK 150 million, HRK 110 million, and HRK 89 million.
Vrdoljak said today's contract marked the end of a process that began in 2009, and that the restructuring dated back to 2001 when Croatia signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union.
He said the sale of Brodosplit enabled the resumption of shipbuilding in the Split-based dock with a private owner and met perhaps the most painful task required for Croatia's EU accession.
We will complete that task when we complete the privatisation of the 3. Maj and Brodotrogir shipyards, he said, noting that the privatisation and restructuring was Brodosplit's last chance to survive and become profitable.
DIV Board chairman Debeljak said his company was ready, that it had analysed the situation in Brodosplit and that it expected the government and the workers to cooperate in the process. He said DIV also had a moral obligation to do its best to rescue the dock, voicing confidence that it would succeed before the contractual deadlines.
Asked by the press about Brodosplit's order book, Debeljak said work was available, as global requirements were a thousand times bigger than Brodosplit'c capacity, which meant that the dock must improve its competitiveness.
Union leaders attended the signing ceremony, voicing hope that the new owner will be socially sensitive to the workers. One of them, Ozren Matijasevic, expects a social agreement to be signed to regulate downsizing. He said the economy minister had vowed that it would be signed within a month.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.5)