Govt. votes unanimously to scrap A-TEC contract

At today’s cabinet meeting, the government voted unanimously to terminate the contract for A-TEC’s purchase of RTB Bor. It was concluded at the meeting that contracts had to be respected, something that A-TEC had failed to do. Govt. votes unanimously to scrap A-TEC contract Earlier today, the Austrian government’s Guarantees Agency guaranteed the company the remaining USD 86mn required for the takeover of the copper mine. Having found the necessary financing for the purchase, the Austrian company had hoped that the Serbian government would make a “logical decision,” and allow them to finalize the deal. The government should now, according to the provisions adopted after the first failed tender for RTB Bor, launch negotiations with the tender runner-up, Russian SMR, owned by Oleg Deripaska. According to a document belonging to RTB’s privatization adviser, SMR wants payment deadlines removed, and the ecological standards relaxed. The document, put together by CAIB, Deloitte, and Harrisons, states that the Russian company wants the Environment Ministry’s rights to control pollution at the mine to be revoked. Following these demands, Bor ecologists have warned the government that it will bear responsibility for the health of the town’s inhabitants and the local environment if it accedes to SMR’s conditions. Meanwhile, Economy and Regional Development Minister Mladjan Dinkic has said that A-TEC did not pay the agreed price for RTB Bor, and that it had only announced its intentions to do so via statements, which was why talks had begun with SMR. “Had they paid the money, our decision might well have been very different, but empty promises, statements, that’s not what’s going to help Bor, but rather investment and jobs,” explained Dinkic. The minister said that A-TEC had said yesterday that it had got hold of the money, “but, we have no need for statements, if they’d received the money, then why didn’t they pay?” He said that SMR had offered a lower price and far bigger investment in the copper mine, though it was necessary to “drastically amend the contract,” if it was going to be concluded. Today's cabinet meeting (FoNet)

Govt. votes unanimously to scrap A-TEC contract

Earlier today, the Austrian government’s Guarantees Agency guaranteed the company the remaining USD 86mn required for the takeover of the copper mine.

Having found the necessary financing for the purchase, the Austrian company had hoped that the Serbian government would make a “logical decision,” and allow them to finalize the deal.

The government should now, according to the provisions adopted after the first failed tender for RTB Bor, launch negotiations with the tender runner-up, Russian SMR, owned by Oleg Deripaska.

According to a document belonging to RTB’s privatization adviser, SMR wants payment deadlines removed, and the ecological standards relaxed.

The document, put together by CAIB, Deloitte, and Harrisons, states that the Russian company wants the Environment Ministry’s rights to control pollution at the mine to be revoked.

Following these demands, Bor ecologists have warned the government that it will bear responsibility for the health of the town’s inhabitants and the local environment if it accedes to SMR’s conditions.

Meanwhile, Economy and Regional Development Minister Mlađan Dinkić has said that A-TEC did not pay the agreed price for RTB Bor, and that it had only announced its intentions to do so via statements, which was why talks had begun with SMR.

“Had they paid the money, our decision might well have been very different, but empty promises, statements, that’s not what’s going to help Bor, but rather investment and jobs,” explained Dinkić.

The minister said that A-TEC had said yesterday that it had got hold of the money, “but, we have no need for statements, if they’d received the money, then why didn’t they pay?”

He said that SMR had offered a lower price and far bigger investment in the copper mine, though it was necessary to “drastically amend the contract,” if it was going to be concluded.