Uralvagonzavod to take over Zelezara Smederevo after all?

(Zelezara Smederevo)

Director of Russia's Uralvagonzavod Oleg Sienko announced that his company would make a final decision in March on whether to take over Serbia's Zelezara Smederevo steelworks.

Sienko said that the management of Uralvagonzavod was still making a preliminary assessment of the value of the Serbian steel mill, adding that the result of that appraisal would serve as the basis for making a final decision on that deal, it was announced on the Russian website maonline.ru. According to Sienko, Zelezara Smederevo is in an extremely difficult economic situation.

By the end of this month Serbian authorities should receive applications from prospective strategic partners interested in taking over Zelezara Smederevo steelworks. The Serbian government announced the first tender to sell that steel mill in April 2012, and deadlines were later extended on several occasions to attract as many interested bidders as possible.

The Serbian government intends to sell 75 percent of Zelezara Smederevo and keep the remaining 25 percent.