SMR’s auction guarantee for RTB “Bor” to expire on April 28

Minister of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia, Mlađan Dinkić, said yesterday (April 15, 2008) that Russian company SMR must prolong auction guarantee worth 10m EUR if it wanted to negotiate about procurement of Mining-Smelter Basin "Bor".

The auction guarantee worth 10m EUR expires on April 28, and its submission was the condition for participation in the second tender for purchase of RTB Bor, when SMR was declared the second-ranked bidder.

Contract with the first-ranked bidder, Austrian company "A-Tec", was revoked because it did not pay the purchase price of 466m USD within the given time.

Government of Serbia made the decision last week that the sale of RTB should be negotiated with SMR, which is a part of "Basic Element" whose owner is Oleg Deripaska. Privatization Agency invited SMR to start negotiations and it is expected that the representatives of that company will arrive in Belgrade this week.