| Russia lays claim to Georgian ships and manganese Today, the favorites of the tenders announced by Georgia at the end of last year should be determined, the contenders for the Ocean Shipping Company (formerly the Georgian Shipping Company) and the Chiaturmanganets plant. There are also Russians among the contenders. The still tense political relations between Russia and Georgia have led to the fact that only RAO UES of Russia and JSC Gazprom, which received carte blanche under President Eduard Shevardnadze, are visible on the Georgian market. But yesterday, Georgian media reported that two more Russian companies are showing interest in the next attractive property put up for sale - the Elektrovozostroitel plant.
Russian companies are not yet in the lead in the competition for Chiaturmanganese, but they are not losing hope of victory. Together with the plant, the flagship of Georgian industry since Soviet times, Tkibulugol, shares of the Zestafoni Ferroalloy Plant (manganese ore is used in their production) and the Vartsikhe hydroelectric power station cascade are included in one lot. The starting price is $100 million. The four contenders are the Russian Evrazholding, the Ukrainian Interpipe, with which the name of Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk is associated (he was in Tbilisi in December), the Austrian company DCM DECOmetal and the Czech Moravia-Georgia . It is already known that Interpipe offers more than others - 117 million, and last year the Ukrainians already beat our Evrazholding in the competition for Krivorozhstal.
The capacity of Chiaturmanganets is 1 million tons per year, but now the plant produces more than five times less ore.
The Ukrainians, by the way, have already announced that if they win, they will invest an additional $60 million in the plant over three years and in the medium term will increase ore production to 400 thousand tons per year. Evrazholding's proposals have not yet been disclosed. Yesterday, the company's management held talks with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and State Minister for Economic Reforms Kakha Bendukidze.
There are Russians among the seven contenders for the privatization of the Georgian Ocean Shipping Company (OSCO). Applications were submitted by the Danish company Greenoak, the Australian Armstrong Holding, the British Aquamarine, the German Shoeller-Ship Management, the Turkish Kuryat, the Russian Industrial Investors and the Italian Co-Arma. The amount offered by potential investors ranges from $17 to $117 million.
In December it was announced that the Georgian shipping company with headquarters in Batumi was going to the Danes for $107 million (the market value determined by British appraisers was $83 million). But the Georgian opposition rebelled against this, which believes that the head of the company, Jan Bonde Nielsen, is close to Aslan Abashidze, who left Adjara in May 2004. Opponents of the deal said that in this way the former leader of the autonomy would retain influence on the situation in Adjara and gain control over significant financial flows. Therefore, the tender deadline, which expired on December 27, was extended.
The new Georgian authorities are pleased with the progress of the privatization marathon. “We have attracted the interest of the largest companies. For OSCO, bidders are willing to pay the government an amount disproportionately higher than expected. In addition, applicants undertake serious obligations to employ Georgian seafarers. Several groups are willing to invest significant funds in the ocean company. The same situation applies to the Chiaturmanganets enterprise and the Vartsikhe hydroelectric power station,” said Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi |
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