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. Figures for the yard's assets were not immediately available.

Its creditors are due to approve the scheme at their meeting on August 30, the ministry said. Then the bail-out plan is to be approved by a court and then it would be launched, the official added. The yard, located in the port of Varna on Bulgaria's northern Black Sea coast owed $77 million to suppliers and the state. The bail out plan envisaged redemption rate of between 96 percent for state creditors and 4.6 percent for uncollateralized creditors.