Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko informed that an auction on selling the Odesa Portside Plant (OPP, South Ukraine) may be suspended for a week. "The OPP privatization will take place in May as we agreed upon", she said having denied a possibility of a competition breakdown.
Yulia Tymoshenko explained that a week's delay is related exclusively to the fact that not all contenders registered at the Antimonopoly Committee.
The State Property Fund put to sale 99.52 percent of shares of the Odesa Portside Plant on February 20.
The initial price of the block of shares makes up UAH 3 billion (1 USD - 5.05 UAH). A competition was planned to take place on May 6, 2008.
As many as 15 companies became interested in the OPP privatization, having requested information about the company at the State Property Fund.
But on April 15, President Viktor Yushchenko suspended privatization of the Plant. During his visit to Odesa region Yushchenko stated that he would agree to privatization of the Odesa Portside Plant only in case that the transshipment facility and the ammonia pipeline are excluded from the privatization lot.
The Cabinet stated about absence of intention to privatize the pipeline in case of selling the OPP. "The pipeline belongs to the Ukrainian State-Run Enterprise UkrKhimTransAmiak and its privatization is not envisaged", the Cabinet statement reads.
