According to the Georgian Economy Ministry, seven foreign companies have made bids for the privatizing of the Georgian Ocean Shipping Company. The deadline for submitting bids expires on January 10.
These companies are: Cyprus-based investment company Schoeller Holdings Ltd, the British Marine Capital Limited, the Australian ASP Ship Management Pty Ltd, the Greenoak Group, as well as one Turkish and one Italian company.
One Russian company, the Industrial Investors Group (Promyshlennye Investory), has also submitted a privatization bid. The co-owner of the company is Sergey Generalov, who served as Russia?s Energy Minister from 1998?1999. The company already controls Russia?s Far Eastern Shipping Company (Dalnevostochnoe Morskoe Parokhodstvo).