SETimes.comTurkish company buys ailing Montenegrin steel plant
02/05/2012
With 193m euros of debt, Montenegro's Zelejzara AD Niksic was bought by a Turkish company. Also in business news: the IMF will loan Kosovo more than 100m euros to create a cash buffer for the country.
Turkish company Toscelik Profil Ve Sac Endustrisi AS has paid 15.1m euros for Montenegro's steel plant Zelejzara AD Niksic, the economy ministry in Podgorica announced on Monday (April 30th). The deal came after four previous failures to sell the enterprise, which has been in bankruptcy for the past year with debts of 193m euros.
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The Romanian leu dropped to an all-time low on Monday (April 30th), experiencing a second day of heavy losses after the government's surprising collapse last week. Since Friday, the leu has lost 1.6% against the euro, which traded at 4.442 leu.
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Montenegro became a full-fledged member of the World Trade Organisation on Sunday (April 29th), becoming the 154th country in its ranks. The country's accession protocol was signed in December last year. The government expects the membership to boost foreign investment.
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The IMF approved a 106.6m-euro loan for Kosovo on Friday (April 27th) after terminating funding under a previous 109m-euro agreement last year over a dispute involving a unilateral hike in civil servants wages. The new 20-month stand-by arrangement will help ease fiscal pressures and help the government create a cash buffer, the Fund said.
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The Greek government approved a plan Friday (April 27th) to provide four local banks -- the National Bank of Greece, EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA, Alpha Bank AS and Piraeus Bank SA -- with bonds from Europe's temporary bailout facility. Under the plan, cited by local media, the banks will get a total of 18 billion euros as early as next week to serve as a temporary capital boost.
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China will issue credit lines and funds worth 8.1 billion euros to boost business with economies in Central and Eastern Europe. The statement came during a visit by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to Warsaw on Thursday (April 26th), where he attended a major trade forum with leaders from 15 countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.
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Household gas and electricity prices in Croatia were hiked by double-digit as of Tuesday (May 1st) in a move aimed to boost the profits of local power companies. The decision, approved by the government last week, will increase gas bills and electricity costs by 22%. Part of the national industry that receives direct gas supplies will not be exposed to the hike, but gas prices for schools, hospitals and some industry sectors will be raised by 6.75%.
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced on Thursday (April 26th) that it has extended a 150m-euro loan to Bosnia and Herzegovina to finance part of the construction of a highway between Banja Luka and Doboj in the country's west. The loan is for a period of 15 years.
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Albania's rental prices and vacancy rates for office and retail real estate will remain stable in the first half of this year after easing in the second half of last year, retail consultancy Colliers said in a report Friday (April 27th). Amid strong demand, the market remains dynamic, the company added. At the end of last year, prime office rents in central Tirana ranged between 17 and 24.5 euros per square metre monthly.
(Various sources -- 25/04/12-02/05/12)