Updated: Dockyard offers announced

(Adds PL statement)

talian shipyard Palumbo has submitted an offer of €67.3m (gross) for the 30-year concession of the land occupied by the ship repair facilities of Malta Shipyards, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech revealed this afternoon.

He said that talks with the company were very advanced but a final deal had not yet been reached. Conclusion was expected in the coming weeks after legal issues were solved and talks were held with the GWU. Parliament would then have to approve the transfer of land.

Mr Fenech explained that the net value of the offer was €52.7 million over the period of the concession. He did not specify what up-front payments would be made since details would be presented to Parliament.

Mr Fenech said the government was confident that Palumbo, which has a small shipyard, would make a success of its investment in Malta.

Mr Fenech was speaking at a press conference. Also present was Emanuel Ellul, head of the Privatisation Unit.

MANOEL ISLAND YACHT YARD

The minister said that the Privatisation Unit had received an offer of €12.4m from the Manoel Island Shipyard Consortium for the Manoel Island Yacht Yard, about which talks were also very advanced. He said this was the net value of the deal for the 30-year concession. The investors had committed themselves to invest €2 million to improve the facilities and €4 million to reclaim land to extend the 'yard.

TALKS STOPPED

Mr Fenech said the privatisation of the Superyacht facility at Cospicua and the former Malta Shipbuilding site have been stopped because the financial offers were unsatisfactory.

He said there was no suitable offer for the superyacht facility. This, he said, was a profitable enterprise which the government would sell when the right offer was made.

As for the former shipbuilding yard, the government had selected Valletta Gateway Terminals as the preferred bidder but there was a wide difference between what the company offered and the valuation made by the government. The bidder had therefore been informed that the process had been stopped.

The site was the biggest of the privatisation process, Mr Fenech said, and the government would re-assess the site's potential and future use.

"We have to think outside the box," Mr Fenech said.

PL's INITIAL REACTION

In an initial reaction, the Labour Party said that the net value of €52.7 million the government would get from the privatisation of the yard over a 30-year period was equivalent to what it paid in a day to buy back the promise it made public transport operators.

The government did not say how many people the Italian company would be employing, what investment it would be making and what type of committments were to be requested from it as part of the agreement.

Spokesman Charles Mangion hoped that Parliament would be given clearer explanations for the people to be in a better position to evaluate the proposal made.

See also

Government announces preferred bidders

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090605/local/government-announces-preferred-bidders