Palumbo SpA, owners of the former Malta Shipyards, have been declared the preferred bidder for the privatisation of the Malta super yacht facilities in the dock 2 and 3 area in Cospicua.

There were two bids in the initial adjudicating process and the financial offers were opened yesterday, the Department of Information said. Palumbo offered €14.4 million, calculatred on the basis of the upfront payment and net present value of rent payable over 30 years.

The minimum upfront payment required by the Request for Proposals was €6 million and a minimum rent of €475,000 per annum increasing by 15% every five years.

The offer of the preferred bidder is composed of an upfront payment of €7.5 million and a rent of €500,000 per annum going up by 15% every five years.