The government on Thursday refuted media speculation that it planned to privatise 28 large state-owned companies over the next two months, including the Croatian Lottery, Croatian Post, four sea ports and the Vukovar river port.
The government refuted an article released in the Globus weekly headlined "28 state-owned companies seeking urgent buyers."
The government notes that the Croatian Lottery is a strategic company and it will not be sold unless prescribed by law while Croatian Post and the Official Gazette are defined as companies of development significance.
Government sources noted that the strategy on state-owned property management adopted in June indicated management directives and that state-owned companies were to be categorised, which does not necessarily mean they will be sold and not within two months like Globus claims.
The government recalled that the Croatian Postal Bank (HPB) and the Croatia Osiguranje (CO) insurance companies were currently in procedure of privatisation and the sale of 75% of the government's shares in HZ Cargo has almost been finalised.
The government plans to partially privatise the national airline carrier Croatia Airlines and to inject fresh capital into the Petrokemija artificial fertiliser company and some maritime companies.
As far as sea and river ports are concerned, the government intends to advertise tenders for concessionaires to construct passenger and container terminals but does not intend to sell the ports themselves, as the Globus claims.
Other companies where the government has a minor share and that do not seem prospective, the government intends to restructure them and place them on the stock exchange for sale over the next two years.
The same will occur with companies where the state has more than 25% but less than 50% ownership share but this procedure will be conducted over the next three years, the government reported.
(Hina)
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