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By Flemming Emil Hansen
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
VIENNA -(Dow Jones)- The Serbian government decided Thursday to cancel Austrian industrial group A-Tec Industries AG's (Vienna:ATEC) (ATEC.VI) acquisition of state- owned Serb copper complex RTB Bor, a government spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires.
"It has been decided by the government that the Serbian Privatization Agency will cancel the contract with A-Tec and now start talks with the second-best bidder," the spokeswoman, who didn't wish to be named said. The decision was made at a government meeting Thursday in the Serb capital of Belgrade.
A-Tec had won the public tender for RTB Bor in February with a bid of $466 million, excluding a purchase price for some additional assets and investments into the company. In total, A-Tec had agreed to pay $514.1 million. Its plan for the financing of the acquisition later collapsed, after its lead credit arranger, Germany's Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) (DB) pulled out due to the international credit crunch and current political instability in Serbia.
After the Serbian privatization agency Friday turned down a request by A-Tec to postpone part of the purchase price payment, A-Tec Saturday submitted a revised offer, which entailed immediate payment of part of the sum, and the remainder to be paid by May 7.
The second-best bidder which will now be invited to talks over the sale of RTB Bor is Russia's Strikeforce Mining and Resources Ltd., a copper and ferro- molybdenum manufacturing company owned by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska.
RTB Bor, which owns the largest copper mine in the Balkan region as well as a smelting plant, is being privatized by the Serbian government after it ran into financial difficulty.
Company Web site: www.a-tecindustries.com
-By Flemming E. Hansen, Dow Jones Newswires; +43 1 513 69 22 10; flemming.hansen@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 04-10-08 1038 Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
