State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Economy Dragan Stevanovic said that the Government has officially started talks over the sale of petrochemical complex HIP Petrohemija to oil company NIS.
Last week, Serbian oil company NIS, majority owned by Russian Gazpromneft, has placed the only bid at the tender for the privatization of HIP Petrohemija. The tender for the selection of the strategic partner for the petrochemical complex was launched in early September. According to tender documentation, the partner should inject 150 million euros in the capital of the company, thus obtaining up to 90 % stake.
Stevanovic said that NIS has already accepted the commitments in its offer, which is that in the next six years it will invest 150 million euros in HIP Petrohemija’s plant, will build a polypropylene production plant with a capacity of at least 140,000 tons per year and will keep the optimal number of workers.
The Government is the majority shareholder with 75.27 % stake in HIP Petrohemija, followed by NIS with 20.86 % and Lukoil with 3.09 %.