Nikopol Pivdennotrubny To Be Privatized In 2006.

The government wants to sell its 96.67% stake in Ukraine?s former flagship pipe producer in 2006. Nikopol Pivdennotrubny has already been auctioned several times but these tenders failed due to the absence of buyers. Concorde Capital: Most of the company’s assests were stripped during restructuring in 1999 – 2004. Interpipe group took control of Nikopol’s best workshops and created them into separate legal entities. Nikopol Pivdennotrubny still has minority stakes in these entities. In our view, Interpipe and the other groups that stripped Nikopol Pivdennotrubny’s assets may bid for Nikopol Pivdennotrubny to prevent conflicts with the government provided that price for the stake is reasonable. Interpipe will likely negotiate the signing of a reconciliation agreement with the government on its disputed asset, Nikopol Ferroalloy (NFER: SELL) in return for the group’s purchase of Nikopol Pivdennotrubny.