Romania's Govt. to prevent Korean investor from closing industrial platform in Bucharest

Romania’s Government will take action to prevent the closure of the Doosan IMGB industrial platform by seeking an investor interested in continuing the activity at the site and checking whether Korean group Doosan has fulfilled the commitments linked to the energy subsidies it has received, acting minister of economy and energy Virgil Popescu announced, according to Agerpres.

The statement comes several days after the 400 employees at the industrial platform, located in southern Bucharest, protested accusing that the owner, Doosan Heavy Industries, wants to close down the factory permanently and sell the land (some 70 ha) to real estate developers.

Doosan announced, at the end of last year, that it suspended operations because of high energy prices. However, minister Popescu mentioned the waiver given to Doosan IMGB for the green certificates - a subsidy extended to energy-intensive companies in the country. He mentioned certain investment commitments attached to the subsidy, but he also mentioned a “gentlemen agreement” related to this, therefore, it is unclear whether the commitments were actually mandatory.

The industrial platform IMGB, owned by Korean group Doosan, will close next year, according to the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS) published in the Official Gazette in January. Sources close to the company explained that the operations will be suspended for at least one year, most likely starting with March or April 2020.

Established in 1963, the IMGB industrial platform was one of the flagship plans of the communist regime. It produced heavy machinery and had about 13,000 employees in 1989. In 1998, the plant was privatized to Norwegian group Kvaerner for the symbolic sum of 1 dollar. In 2006, Kvaerner sold the factory to South Korean group Dossan.

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