Plot thickens around Romania's Oltchim takeover: buyer asks state for more measures, media suggests he's looking for financing

The plot thickens around the takeover of Romania's largest chemical producer Oltchim. Dan Diaconescu, the bid winner, whom everyone is eagerly awaiting to foot the bill and sign the contract, made further demands on the state before actually signing the document.

He asked the Romanian government to pay the due salaries for Oltchim employees, to establish an actual way of taking over Oltchim's raw material supplier Arpechim, currently owned by OMV Petrom, and guaranteeing that none of the lenders will ask for Oltchim's insolvency after takeover. Increasing the mystery around whether the buyer has enough money to pay for Oltchim, which he won by pledging some EUR 45 million, Diaconescu confirmed a meeting at the US Embassy, leaving room for speculation on who could be behind the media mogul, wanting to take over the chemical producer. Diaconescu also recently went on a trip to Munich and Vienna, which was used by Romanian media to speculate on a business meeting with a potential investor to back him up in the takeover process. Diaconescu returned to Romania on Wednesday (September 26 ) after leaving for Munich two days before. Political and media pundits also suggest the businessman could use the hype around Oltchim's privatization to get more media exposure ahead of the elections this fall in Romania. Diaconescu is also the head of the political party Partidul Poporului Dan Diaconescu. He has been given until October 1 to come up with the money for Oltchim and was supposed to sign the contract today (September 26 ), according to previous information. More about the Olcthim privatization here. Corina Chirileasa, corina@romania-insider.com