Port of Novi Sad in foreign hands? – Twelve individuals and companies interested in privatization

A total of 12 companies and individuals have sent letters of interest for the privatization of the Port of Novi Sad, the only remaining majority state owned port, the Vojvodina Research and Analysis Center (VOICE) announced on Saturday, November 4, 2017, as reported by Beta.

The letters of interest for acquiring the port were sent by foreign companies Rhenus SE & CO KG Germany, Largo SA Slovakia, P&O Ports Dubai and the US-based company Valona Group Corporation, as well as individuals and companies from Serbia: Novi Trading NS from Zmajevo near Vrbas, Vimeksim SRB Novi Sad, Milsped d.o.o. Krnjesevci, Konzul d.o.o. Novi Sad, MK Commerce, Granolist d.o.o. Novi Sad, as well as Navihor d.o.o. Zuce and Milos Paunovic from Kovin.

The majority of the bids (seven) propose a sale of the capital as the privatization model. Five companies offer a strategic partnership through recapitalization, two are looking to purchase the Port’s property, whereas one company proposes a strategic partnership though the foundation of a new business entity, VOICE reports.

A public invitation for the privatization of the Port was supposed to have taken place before mid-2017. This didn’t happen, and the website of the Ministry of Economy states that a reinitiation of the public invitation is an option and that the regulation of the status of the property is currently in progress.

Assistant to the minister in charge of water transport, Veljko Kovacevic, said in November 2016 that the purchaser of the Port of Novi Sad should be known in mid-2017 and added that the main criterion for the selection of the best bidder would be the investment plan.

He explained that the new owner would only own the business, and not the land or the infrastructure, which were to remain state-owned. He said at the time that the Port reloaded around a million tons of goods a year and that the new owner and investments were expected to lead to an increase to at least 1.6 million tons.

The Port of Novi Sad currently has 155 employees. Last year, it paid nearly EUR 50,000 to the state budget in dividends, thanks to its successful results.

As VOICE reminds, the Ministry of Economy opened an invitation for submission of letters of interest for the privatization of the Port of Novi Sad in March 2016. They also say that, back in August 2016, they required of the Ministry of Economy to submit letters of interest, which they failed to do, providing an explanation that this might result in “various random interpretations by third parties, which would have a negative impact on the privatization procedure”.

However, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic reached the decision in the procedure per VOICE’s complaint according to which the Ministry of Economy is obligated to submit the letters of interest for the privatization of the Port of Novi Sad, which they then proceeded to do, VOICE says.

DP World ad Novi Sad

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

VOICE Vojvođansko istraživačko analitički centar

NOVI TRADING NS

VIMEKSIM SRB Novi Sad

Milšped d.o.o. Beograd

Konzul d.o.o. Novi Sad

MK Commerce d.o.o. Novi Sad

Navihor d.o.o. Zuce

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Poverenik za informacije od javnog značaja Srbija

Port of Novi Sad

privatization of the Port of Novi Sad

Ministry of Economy

Rhenus SE & CO KG

Largo SA

P&O Ports

Valona Group Corporation

Novi Trading NS

Vimeksim SRB

Milsped

Konzul

MK Commerce

Granolist

Navihor

Milos Paunovic

Ministry of Transport

Veljko Kovacevic