Further delays set to stall Serbia's NIS privatisation

03 October 2007 12:16  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--Further substantial delays could hit the privatisation of Serbia’s NIS, parent company of petrochemicals producer HIP Petrohemija, a source at Belgrade's Privatisation Agency said on Wednesday.

Parties in the coalition government were unlikely to agree on what privatisation method to select to allow officials to get the sell-off under way by the existing year-end deadline, he said.

At issue is whether to sell 25% or offer 50% in order to obtain a better price, he added.

NIS, the privatisation of which was postponed in 2006 when the need for a general election arose, is valued by analysts at around €0.85bn ($1.2 billion).

Among firms that have expressed an interest in NIS are Hungary’s MOL, Austria’s OMV, Poland’s PKN Orlen, Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum, Russia’s Lukoil and Gazpromneft and Romania’s Rompetrol.

Many observers rate the Russian companies as the frontrunners, calculating that a political deal might see one of the companies awarded the NIS stake in return for Moscow’s support on the future status of Kosovo.

By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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