Gdynia and Szczecin to be sold

The Polish government is awaiting the signature of a Caribbean registered company which has agreed to buy the assets of both Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards for about Zloty450m ($136m).

United International Trust was the highest bidder from a group of 35 companies which had expressed an interest in the assets of the two yards. It agreed to pay about Zloty290m for Gdynia and Zloty161m for Szczecin.

The Polish treasury had been compelled by the EU to auction the assets of the two yards after competition commissioner Neelie Kroes ruled that state aid given by the government to the yards had been illegal. As part of a restructuring process the yards had to pay back the loans, which amounted to about ?2bn ($2.7bn), or be sold.

A spokesperson for the Polish Treasury said the EU criteria were simply to get the highest price available for the assets. There was no stipulation that the buyer should use them for shipbuilding purposes.

However, he said that as UIT has paid for nearly all the assets of the two yards, it has indicated that it wants to pursue shipbuilding with its purchase. “Why would it buy docks and all the other facilities if it did not want to build ships?” he asked. However, he pointed out that the final decision on what happens with the facilities lies with UIT.

The Polish government has revealed few details about UIT, other than to say it is a single investor, acting through an intermediary, Stiching Particulier Fonds Greenrights. The government spokesperson said that it would only reveal more information about the buyer when it put its “signature on the paper”. Poland wants to sign the contract with UIT as quickly as possible, drawing a line under what has become a long, drawn-out political argument with Brussels.

Once the contract is signed workers at the yards will be made redundant, leaving UIT to then re-employ as many workers as it needs. The yards have a backlog of work, but have failed to make a profit since 2004. Poland is also waiting for news from the European Commission regarding the Gdansk Shipyard, which was sold in 2007 to a subsidiary of Ukranian industrial conglomerate Donbass. The competition commission had demanded more information and details of restructuring after the sale.