Although nine potential investors purchased the tender documentation for the purchase of 97.13 percent of the business share in the Pula shipyard ULJANIK Brodogradnja 1856, only two binding offers arrived at the address of the Center for Restructuring and Sale (CERP) by the submission deadline that expired yesterday at noon.
CERP does not reveal much, just enough to fit in the first sentence, noting that all other information, until the official decision of that competent body is made, is considered a business and professional secret.
Offers from different backgrounds
However, according to the text by Orjana Antešić published in Novi list, there are two offers with very similar financial amounts, but from radically different backgrounds: one comes from an operational industrial player from Turkey, and the other from a newly established financial holding from Luxembourg.
The first offer, worth around 14 million euros, was sent by the Turkish shipyard Kuzey Star Shipyard.
This is a company privately owned by Turkish entrepreneur Tuncay İmral, who also serves as the CEO. Their headquarters are in the key Turkish maritime center Tuzla near Istanbul, with additional facilities in Yalova.
Classic industrial investor
This is an established repair shipyard equipped with large floating docks up to 293 meters long, capable of accommodating Suezmax and Panamax vessels. They perform between 80 and 120 complex repairs and conversions of commercial, LNG, and special vessels annually, and they also have their own newbuilding department.
Kuzey Star represents a classic industrial investor whose entry would provide Pula with a partner with existing contracts, its own logistics chain, and proven expertise in the repair and construction of specialized vessels.
Private financial holding
The second offer, financially somewhat more generous and worth 14.5 million euros, came from the company Mira Finance Capital Holding S.à.r.l. from Luxembourg.
This is a private financial holding established in August last year with minimal founding capital, without any stated operational income, employees, or registered shipbuilding activities.
The company is registered at the address of a mass administrative service provider in Luxembourg, and almost nothing, not even through in-depth searches, can be learned about this holding, its founders, and financiers.
The ball is now in the court of the Government and CERP.
