Bosnia Officials Looking for Bidders for Aluminum Smelter

Bosnian officials are sending bid invitations for a stake in its sole aluminum smelter to metal producers.

The bids for an 88% stake in Bosnia's biggest exporter Aluminij Mostar will be sent to the world's top three aluminum producers - Alcoa, Alcan Inc. and RUSAL, said Hamdija Kulović, the head of the Aluminij sell-off commission.

Other potential bidders include Norway's Norsk Hydro and Swiss-based metals trader Glencore International AG the long-time partners of the company based in the southern town of Mostar, Kulović told Reuters.

The privatization agency of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation, where Aluminij is based, decided this week that the value of an 88% stake slated for the privatization was 150.3 million BAM (Bosnian Marka)

"This is the minimal price that will be accepted," Kulović said. "We shall not go below that.