"Esmark will revitalize Zelezara after transaction"

"Esmark will revitalize Zelezara after transaction"

The procedure is expected to be finished by February 1, James Bouchard stated, stressing that Esmark would do all in its power to help stimulate the Serbian economy.

Everyone at Esmark is delighted to be chosen by the Serbian government as the strategic partner, he told Tanjug, adding that Serbia was conducting a fair and transparent privatisation process, and that his company shared the vision of Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to restore Zelezara Smederevo to its former glory and turn it into an engine of the nation's economy once again.

Esmark will take over 80.1 percent of Zelezara Smederevo, while the government will keep 19.9 percent.

Esmark's founder, chairman and CEO, told Tanjug recently that the company would invest USD 400 million in the Serbian steel plant over the following few years if it won the tender, adding that nobody would lose their job at the plant.

He stressed that Esmark would invest USD 28 million in Zelezara Smederevo in 2015 alone, and would restart the second blast furnace and make new investments in the central production facility.

He tahnked the head of the Zelezara Smederevo privatization commission

Bojan Bojkovic, Minister of Finance Dusan Vujovic, Zelezara Smederevo workers and their union and the US Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby.

The Serbian government accepted on Monday a bid from the Amsterdam-based Esmark Europe B.V., after considering a report by the commission set up to implement a strategic partnership model for the privatization of Serbia's steel mill.

Previously, two tenders were called for the Smederevo steel plant, but no bids were submitted.

The third tender was called on December 5. Three companies submitted their bids, but only the one from Esmark proved to be valid.

Zelezara Smederevo was first sold after the bankruptcy in March 2003 to U.S. Steel for USD 23 million. By early 2012, it was a big exporter and accounted for 13 percent of Serbia's total exports.

In January 2012, the Serbian government bought the Smederevo Steelworks back from U.S. Steel for a symbolic price of one dollar.

The government has been providing around USD 10 million every month to sustain the plant's production.

The re-sale of Zelezara Smederevo is expected to save 5,000 jobs and probably open 17,000 new ones.