November the 11th, 2021 - The Croatian state is set to sell its share in the famous Ston saltworks (Solana Ston), which has been in operation since way back in the fourteenth century.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, there are ten more participants in the entire ownership structure of the well known Ston saltworks next to the Croatian state, and the Centre for Restructuring and Sales (CERP) will soon announce the sale of its ownership stake.
The decision of the Governing Board, chaired by the Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property, Darko Horvat, set the starting price at a public tender of up to 1.4 million kuna for the state's share of 9.14 percent, which is equal to three and a half times the amount of the nominal value of that share.
In the overall ownership structure of the Ston saltworks, in addition to the Croatian state, there other participants (the number of which is mentioned above) including the director, Svetan Pejic. The oldest Croatian saltworks, built during the time of the Dubrovnik Republic, formerly a state of its own, has unfortunately been operating at a loss for years. It ended pandemic-dominated 2020 with almost three million kuna in losses, and the transferred losses amounted to a concerning 37 million kuna in total.
The company had revenues of 1.5 million kuna and they were more than halved compared to a few years earlier. The director explained in the financial report that the coronavirus pandemic also contributed significantly to the Ston saltworks' overall decline. It otherwise eight full-time employees, and unlike before, it had no export revenues to speak of.
The value of the Ston saltworks lies in its approximately 50 pools for salt production, but part of it is covered with asphalt that needs to be removed for the production of ecologically clean salt for the type of food for which the saltworks is best known, and it is a condition for resolving property relations which are ongoing.
The sale of the state's share will go through a public auction, which will be 45 days after CERP announces the tender.
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