The Chinese will manufacture electric buses in Ikarbus

In the middle of this year, the privatization of Ikarbus based in Zemun is expected, and the CEO of that factory, Aleksandar Vicentic, says that the new majority owner will be Chinese Jinlong, which plans to expand production to electric vehicles.

Vicentic said that the privatization process had already begun through a pre-packaged insolvency procedure, and that he expected that 51 percent of Ikarbus would be sold to the Chinese partner in mid-June. The state will remain the owner of about 26 percent, while the remaining stake will be owned by small shareholders, while the Chinese partner will also purchase about 9.5 million euros of Ikarbus’s debt.

„Ikarbus has not been operating very well since mid-2018. We have business deals, but not enough of them. We are currently manufacturing seven buses for a buyer in Hungary, two more buses for local customers, and we are also doing big overhauls for GSP,“ Vicentic told Tanjug.

He said that about 140 employees opted for the social welfare program, which was implemented late last year, and they received 200 euros per year of service, while 120 employees remained in the company.

„Mostly older employees left. We managed to preserve the complete engineering staff, which is the most important for us and the company that is buying us,“ Vicentic said.

Referring to Chinese Jinlong, he said that it was one of the world’s largest manufacturers of batteries for electric vehicles, and that it was a major manufacturer of electric buses, electric trucks and electric panel vans.

Izvor: RTS, Tanjug

Foto: Ikarbus