Serbia examines new A-TEC offer for RTB Bor
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia will decide later this week whether to accept a new offer by Austria’s A-TEC Industries for RTB Bor copper miner, submitted only minutes before the payment deadline was set to expire last Friday. The state privatization agency said in a statement yesterday A-TEC’s proposal would be discussed later this week «considering the importance of the RTB Bor group for the Serbian economy and the complexity of the situation.» On Friday, A-TEC said it was pulling out of talks to buy RTB Bor. Belgrade said the deal was off, and it would keep the $150 million A-TEC paid so far. Just before the deadline, however, A-TEC offered to pay $230 million immediately, raised a bid bond to $15 million and performance bond to $60 million, and requested a May 7 deadline from Belgrade to pay the remaining $86 million.
