SARAJEVO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Shareholders of Bosnia's
indebted aluminium smelter Aluminij Mostar on Friday rejected as
inadequate a bid by an Israeli-Chinese consortium to lease the
plant's foundry, a move which would be a first step towards
restarting production.
The smelter was shut down last July over debt incurred
because of high electricity and alumina prices. An attempt to
find a strategic partner had failed after London-listed miner
and commodity trader Glencore and other investors
pulled out of talks on a possible takeover.
The offer from a consortium of Israeli M.T Abraham Group,
China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and China
Non-Ferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering & Construction
to lease the foundry was rejected by 78% of Aluminij's
shareholders.
The group had previously made two bids for the whole
company, which were also rejected.
The government of Bosnia's Bosniak-Croat Federation, which
owns a 44% stake in the smelter, said it declined the latest
offer because of technical errors which needed to be reworked
and other terms that were vaguely defined.
Small shareholders also own a 44% stake and one of them,
Zlatko Topic, told state radio the 15,000 euro bid was "flatly
rejected" as shameful and humiliating because of the low price.
Representatives of the Croatian government, which owns a 12%
stake in the company, voted in favour of the offer.
Stipo Buljan, the Federation's government representative at
the meeting in Aluminij's home town of Mostar, said all sides
had agreed to work together over the next 30 days to find a new
solution to rescue the company, which employed 900 workers and
was among Bosnia's top exporters .
Federation Industry and Energy Minister Nermin Dzindic has
said that bankruptcy is an option.
Aluminij, which accumulated debt of almost 380 million
Bosnian marka ($209.7 million), is being investigated by the
financial and tax police.
(1$ = 1.812 Bosnian marka)
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Glencore (GLEN)
