Montenegro smelter owners and govt close to a deal

MOSCOW, June 4 (Reuters) - The government of Montenegro and EN+, the Russian owner of its sole aluminium smelter Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica or KAP, may reach a deal which may prevent its bankruptcy, Kommersant business daily said on Thursday. It quoted Montenegrin media as saying the government may approve on Thursday an agreement with EN+, under which it would provide guarantees to KAP's lender banks, and loans for a total of 45 million euros ($63.83 million), part of which will be used for debt repayment. In exchange, EN+, part of Basel, an investment vehicle of indebted billionaire Oleg Deripaska, will transfer to the government a stake in the smelter and in a bauxite mine which feeds it. It will also provide 40 million euros to cover the plant's workers salaries and its debt to energy suppliers and drops a case against the government for 330 million euros launched in 2007 over alleged false evaluation of KAP's assets during its sale. Basel could not be immediately reached for comment. The aluminium smelter accounts for 50 percent of the country's exports, but runs at a loss because of low global metal prices and has already decided to cut its production by half, to around 60,000 tonnes in 2009.