Russian group Tise, the German minority shareholder PCC, and local companies Pegamont Ploieşti and Aisa Invest have filed offers to take control of Romanian chemical producer Oltchim. The term for submitting offers in Oltchim's privatization ended today (April 17 ).

The Romanian state will privatize Oltchim through a mixed method, combining the negotiation based on preliminary offers, and the closed bid.

Earlier this year, Romania's Economy Ministry said the state will sell the majority stake in the chemical producer Oltchim Râmnicu-Vâlcea in a bid organized on May 31. The deadline imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for ending privatization procedures was end-April. The privatization process will have two stages, and selected investors will be able to negotiate the acquisition of Arpechim, Olthim’s main supplier, directly with its owner OMV Petrom.

Romania will sell 54.8 percent in Oltchim and four companies stated interested in the company: Russian TISE, Forte from the United Arab Emirates, Romanian Rompet Romgas and German PCC – already a minority shareholder in the company. Not all of them submitted offers.

The Government plans to turn Oltchim’s debts into shares and sell them to future investors in the company. This would increase the company’s social capital and dilute the stakes of minority shareholders unable to put money down to keep their current stakes. The European Commission agreed with the move earlier in March, ruling that this does not constitute state aid.

PCC SE owns 18.3 percent in Oltchim, while Nachbar Services has 14 percent. Oltchim’s total debt is around EUR 572 million, mainly for electricity, to banks and to the Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS). The debt to AVAS is of EUR 116 million, plus a similar amount in interest applied between 2007 and 2011. The debt stems from 2002, when AVAS took over Oltchim’s debt to the Finance Ministry, after the state had issued guarantees for external loans taken by the company.

editor@romania-insider.com