Zoran Drakulić gave up Yugoslav River Shipping

(Zoran Drakulić)

Zoran Drakulić is not going to run the fleet of Yugoslav River Shipping (JRB) after all. After nearly one year since the contract on purchase of 70% of JRB's capital by his company EDDCG Austria was signed, the buyer decided not to pay the first installment. The first tranche of total of 24.5m EUR, which was the purchase price of JRB, was supposed to be on the account of the Privatization Agency prior to midnight on January 29th.

People in East Point, Drakulić's company in Serbia, say that the situation in the market has been changed and that they gave up the acquisition.

- Two years ago, when we signed the contract, the situation in the market was different - says Gordana Vitomirov, the spokesperons of East Point.

- Under these circumstances, now when we register losses, we are not in the situation to complete the acquisition. That is why we decided not to pay the money.

The sales contract was signed on February 5th, 2009. The buyer has already asked for extension of the deadline for payment of the first installment. Taking in concern the consequences of the economic crisis, the Privatization Agency extended the deadline. EDDCG then asked for another extension, but people in the Agency said that the final deadline was January 29th.

Since the money had not been paid until then, the Commission of the Privatization Agency is going to make the decision on cancellation of the sales contract in few days. According to the Law, the company will become the property of the Share Fund, which will be seeking the new buyer.

As the first-ranked bidder, Drakulić promised to invest 15.7m EUR in JRB, while the second-ranked bidder was the consortium comprising French company CFNR, Dunavski Lloyd from Sisak and shipyard Bomex from Zrenjanin, which offered the price of 8.4m EUR and investments worth 15.2m EUR.

PROPERTY

JRB is the leader in Serbian internal and international river transportation market. It owns 16 ships, 14 suppressors, two tugboats and 120 barges. The company also owns 49,000 square meters of building land in New Belgrade, on the Sava embankment, and about 20,000 square meters of agricultural land in Pančevo, as well as piers in Prahovo. It has the facilities at total surface of 14,520 square meters.