Russian Oil Gas Trade shows interest in Romanian chemical producer Oltchim

Russian company Oil Gas Trade is ready to take over Romania’s Oltchim chemical plant when Oltchim II will be put up for privatization, said the company’s representative Florin Rozescu. “We wait for the creation of this Oltchim II, we are in good relations with the judicial administrators and we are ready to take over the chemical plant,” said Rozescu, quoted by local news agency Agerpres. He added the company’s interest for Romania’s Oltchim appeared in June this year when representatives of the company submitted a letter to former Romanian Economy Minister Varujan Vosganian, while on August 1, together with one of the owners, they visited the chemical plant. “At the end of August, the judicial administrators asked us if we were interested in Oltchim, to finance the chemical plant’s needs with a certain amount of money. On September 12 we have provided an amount of EUR 50 million necessary for capitalization, raw materials and for the plant to move forward in order to register increased production,” added Florin Rozescu. Oltchim has been under insolvency procedures since January 2013. This came soon after the state failed to privatize Oltchim in its first privatization stage, which was won by media mogul Dan Diaconescu, who then failed to pay the pledged amount. In September this year, Oltchim recorded a turnover of EUR 11.4 million, double than the EUR 5.6 million registered in the same month of 2012. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com