Cammell Laird To Invest $10M In Varna Yard
Britain's Cammell Laird plans to invest between five and $10 million as part of a bail-out package for Bulgaria's indebted Varna Shipyard. "Investments are aimed at upgrading production capacity. Two-thirds are to be made within 10 days after the bail-out plan is enforced and the remainder within 18 months," the Economy Ministry said in a statement. The plan was worked out by the yard's creditors including the ministries of finance and economy, and the Bank Consolidation Company which manages state equity in local banks, based on an indicative bid from Cammell Laird earlier this year. Cammel Laird is the sole bidder to implement the shipyard's restructuring and will acquire ownership over all of the yard's long-term assets as part of the plan, a ministry official told Reuters.
Varna Shipyard Could Be Up By July
Cammell Laird said Bulgaria's dormant, state-controlled Varna shipyard could be up and running again by July if its bid for the indebted yard is approved by Bulgarian courts. "We hope we'll be able to resume operations sometime in July," Cammell Laird's European management director Tom Parry said. A regional court of appeal in the Black Sea city of Varna recently turned down objections by some of the yard's creditors to the British group's bailout plan that has been based on an indicative bid made by Cammell Laird last year. Creditors can appeal that decision within a period of about a month at Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Appeal, said Dimitar Smilenov, a court-appointed administrator at the idled yard that faced insolvency before Cammell emerged as a sole bidder.
