The first round of selling part of the assets of Global Ispat Koksna Industrija doo Lukavac (GIKIL) was unsuccessful, as the potential buyer did not appear. The media learns that the new sale through a public oral auction could be held in August, with a significantly lower starting price.
The Coke Chemical Plant (KHK) Lukavac in bankruptcy offered for sale its share in GIKIL, which recently changed its name to Koksara, and the starting price for 49 percent ownership amounted to 52 million BAM.
The first round of the sale was held a few days ago, but media reported that the potential buyer did not appear.
“Until the realization of the public oral auction, we did not have a deposit payment, nor interested buyers. Therefore, the sale was declared unsuccessful, and we expect a decision on the second sale, which should be held at the end of August,” said the bankruptcy manager at KHK, Hajrudin Kunalic.
Significantly lower price
The starting price in the first round of the sale amounted to 52.177.244.70 BAM, and that amount was actually 70 percent of the estimated value, which is 74.538.921 BAM. As Kunalic said, the upcoming round of the sale carries with it a drastically lower starting price.
“The starting price now goes to 50 percent of the estimated value, which is approximately 37 million BAM,” added Kunalic.
It is worth mentioning that GIKIL was created by the merger of KHK Lukavac and Global Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, and after certain contract amendments, Global Steel Holdings Ltd (GSHL) was listed as co-founder.
Furthermore, in 2003, the Government of Tuzla Canton (TC), on behalf of the state-owned company KHK, signed a strategic partnership agreement with GSHL and handed over its share in the joint company GIKIL for management.
GSHL received majority management rights but never fulfilled its obligations under the agreement, which related to investment in the joint company, while KHK fulfilled all obligations on the same basis.
According to the agreement, GSHL received 51 percent management rights, although KHK holds a 67 percent share when looking at the company’s capital. However, the final ownership ratio is 51 to 49 percent, with 49 percent belonging to KHK.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) still facing arbitration worth 400 million dollars
GSHL is a company in liquidation, and its head was the former president of the Supervisory Board of GIKIL, Pramod Mittal, who was arrested in Lukavac in the summer of 2019 under extremely serious accusations that he created a criminal group engaged in extracting 21 million BAM from the BiH company.
KHK is in bankruptcy, while Mittal initiated arbitration against BiH at the beginning of 2023, due to a dispute dating back to his engagement in the Lukavac company GIKIL.
This process is still not completed, and if the outcome is unfavorable for BiH, the country could face a financial blow worth as much as 400 million dollars.
