APP announces last round of state auctions this year

About 80 items of state property estimated at a total 1.3 billion lei will be put up for auction in the last round announced by the Public Property Agency (APP) this year, Info-Prim Neo reports. APP director Tudor Copaci said this last round, to take place during November 20-23 on the Moldova Stock exchange, will include outcry auctions for state interests in 38 joint stock companies. In 16 of them the state holds the majority interest, including Farmaco (94.6%), Floare-Carpet (59.4%) and others. Bids called in the investment contest launched on October 26 may be submitted until December 6, if any interest is shown in privatizing cinema theaters in Glodeni, Stefan-Voda, Telenesti, Rezina, Leova and Vulcanesti. The minimum amount of the expected investments is 9.8 million lei over a period of three years. Also until December 6, APP expects bids in the contest for 10 state companies sold as unitary groups of assets. The most prominent of them is the Chisinau Glass Factory, and the winning bidder will be required to keep it running specifically as a glass container factory. “In the last two years the government invested a lot in this company: the furnace was reconstructed, and so was the packaging section. The bidders will have a pleasant surprise. The company was prepared for privatization, and the winning bidder will have to continue investing in order to withstand the great competition on the regional and European markers”, said Tudor Copaci. The start price of the Factory is 396 million lei. Among the properties put up for privatization for the first time is the sanitarium “Sanatate” in Sergievka, Ukraine. The price of the assets which didn't sell in previous rounds, such as a YAK-40 aircraft, will be reduce by 5 to 20%. Tudor Copaci said a novelty in this round of privatization is that the APP will cooperate with the Investment and Export Promotion Organization so that potential buyers could visit the facilities they are interested in. The APP hopes to obtain 200-250 million lei in proceeds from this privatization round. The privatization target included in this year's State Budget is 260 million lei; 110 million lei has already been obtained.