ANTIC: There will be no layoffs at RTB Bor

Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic stated on Saturday, September 1, 2018, that there would be no layoffs at RTB Bor, after the acquisition by the Chinese company Zijin.

When asked by TV Prva whether the current number of 5,000 employees at RTB Bor was too much and whether he expected layoffs, he said that he believed that the number was realistic.

– This number of employees is realistic considering the announced investments and the opening of new mines and is also an obligation of the foreign partner. The contract says that Zijin obliges to pay two gross salaries to the state budget of Serbia for each worker below 5,000 – Antic explained.

He also said that the announced capital increase was expected to take place immediately following the signing of the contract and that the realization of the binding investments was expected after the takeover of a majority stake.

– In the next six years, the Chinese company will invest EUR 1.26 billion, which will turn RTB Bor into a profitable company. I expect Serbia to have 37% of these increased profits in its budget – Antic said.

The minister said that Petrohemija Pancevo was also ready for “either a privatization or a strategic partnership” and that the company had gone from being one of the biggest losers to having successful operations.

Antic said that the state “has drastically reduced the subsidies for state companies” in the past six years, aiming to make them more efficient.

– RTB Bor has had a historical chain of debts amounting to over a billion euros, with a discontinuity in the investment cycle, and the lack of investments couldn’t “feed” the recently built foundry – Antic said.

Zijin was picked by the Government of Serbia as a strategic partner at RTB Bor. The company offered the purchase of a 63% stake at RTB Bor, a business plan worth USD 1.26 billion, a mandatory investment of USD 350 million, the settlement of USD 200 million of RTB Bor’s debts and the keeping of 5,000 jobs.

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Zijin Mining Group Co Beijing

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

HIP-Petrohemija a.d. Pančevo

RTB Bor

Zijin

Zijin Mining Group

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Aleksandar Antic

Petrohemija Pancevo

privatization of Petrohemija

strategic partnership for RTB Bor

sale of RTB Bor

privatization of RTB Bor