November 22, 2008

Poland to unveil shipyard privatization plans

The Polish government said that investors interested in the privatization of the country's ailing shipyards would present their plans in time for a European Union deadline next week. The historic communist era yards risk bankruptcy under EU competition rules on public aid.

Mr Aleksander Grad treasury minister of Poland said that "Investors have assured us they will forward their restructuring plans on September 12th 2008."

Mr Grad said that a series of meetings between the companies and the treasury were scheduled during the coming week. He added that "The sums are shocking. For the yards in Gdynia and Gdansk subsidies will rise to EUR 250 million. For the Szczecin yard, total subsidies will rise to PLN 400 million."

Following Polish promises to present viable plans for the restructuring of ailing yards by the September deadline, the European Commission said in July it was postponing a state aid decision on the Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards that risked bankruptcy. Both state-owned yards are deeply in debt.

The move came after the commission had rejected a fresh set of restructuring plans presented by Warsaw as being out of step with EU competition regulations on public subsidies.

However, earlier he stressed that the European Commission has been informally informed about the need for subsidies and the negotiations have not been broken off.