Restructuring started in "Ikarbus"

The Privatization Agency of Serbia started restructuring process in Belgrade-based bus factory "Ikarbus" on Friday (January 8, 2010).

According to the Agency's website (www.priv.rs), all creditors of "Ikarbus" are invited to submit their claims.

On September 3, 2009, the Privatization Agency canceled the contract for sale of "Ikarbus" to Russian "Avtodetal servis", which bought 39.4% of state-owned capital in bus factory "Ikarbus" in July 2008 for 7.2m EUR, and it later bought another 10% of stocks on the Stock Exchange.

The sales contract with "Avtodetal servis" is canceled because the obligations from social and investment programme were not fulfilled and because the salaries were not paid.

Italian company "Breda menarinibus" expressed interest in rental of "Ikarbus" in late 2009, with which it earlier cooperated in production of buses for European market. The cooperation was discontinued because the new owners water to export buses to Russia.

The contract on cooperation between "Ikarbus" and "Breda" in production of about 300 buses per year should have been signed on December 21, 2009, but the signing was postponed until January 20th, 2010, because some "technical details need to be agreed".

The Minister of Economy, Mlađan Dinkić, said in December that "Breda" would rent "Ikarbus" on the period of two years and that all other facilities that were not used for production would be sold at the auction.

Dinkić said that the money from the sale would be used for settlement of debts of "Ikarbus". That property includes the business building and the land near hotel "Jugoslavija" and facilities and land on the Batajnica road.