Superyachts: ministry claims no collusion in Palumbo-Midi bid
The finance ministry is rebutting claims that it allowed the collusion of two bidders to present a higher offer for the Malta Superyachts (MSYS) privatisation, a process now mired in controversy after being twice stalled by the privatisation unit.
The two firms were separate bidders and not even shortlisted as ‘preferred bidders’, until the PU stopped the process in November 2009 and asked all bidders to resubmit new offers.
Matthew Vella The finance ministry is rebutting claims that it allowed the collusion of two bidders to present a higher offer for the Malta Superyachts (MSYS) privatisation, a process now mired in controversy after being twice stalled by the privatisation unit.
The firms, Palumbo SpA and the Manoel Island consortium, were two of the original five bidders for the lucrative facility but had not been shortlisted as preferred bidders.
The process was stopped back in November 2009 when the preferred bidders – Melita Group and the Hili Group – were asked to resubmit bids because their offers were not deemed to be suitable.
At this point, Palmbo and the Manoel Island consortium (which includes Midi plc, the Bianchi group and the Mizzi group) which arguably had bid lower than the preferred bidders, resubmitted a joint bid – a dubious practice given that the two firms were already competing bidders for MSYS, and one that opens up the privatisation unit to accusations that it blessed the union of two bidders bound by confidentiality agreements.
The finance ministry is denying that Palumbo and the Manoel Island consortium had to be disqualified as laid down in conditions – which all bidders were aware of when they tendered back in February 2009 – that they could not enter into any form of collusive tendering.
“There was no ground whatsoever for the disqualification of any of the bidders. The Request for Proposals clearly provides for the possibility of two existing bidders to present a proposal in the form of a consortium,” a spokesperson said.
This claim however ignores the timing of the joint bid. When Melita and Hili were first listed as preferred bidders, the PU did not approach either consortium to ask them to improve their bid.
Instead the PU asked all five bidders to resubmit their offers, but did not open it to outside parties. This fact alone suggests that the bidders could still not confer with each other, given as they were bound by confidentiality agreements.
So it remains unclear why the PU did not first ask Melita and Hili to improve their offers before calling for a resubmission – an approach taken with Palumbo, which this week was awarded the Malta Shipyards for €90.6 million.
The finance ministry told MaltaToday the firms were not approached because the Request for Proposals “does not provide the possibility for a best and final offer. However, earlier in this process a re-bid was asked as all offers were then found to be unsatisfactory.”
Still questionable is the fact that the superyacht privatisation was once again stopped this Tuesday, over claims that the offers are still not suitable.
MaltaToday is informed that offers for MSYS are reportedly hovering at an average sum of €22 million, a sum equating to €687 per square metre over a period of 30 years for the Bormla superyacht facility (or €23 per square metre of land per year).
In itself, this is even higher than the rental value attached for the 160,000 square metres of the Malta Shipyards, which at €90 million means the land is going for €566 per square metre over the 30-year period.
With the MSYS privatisation stopping yet again, rumours are rife that Palumbo had been angling for the superyacht facility all along, and then joined forces with the Manoel Island consortium to present a stronger bid when the opportunity was given to them by the PU itself.
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