Romanian chemical group appoints former OMV Petrom manager as CEO

Chimcomplex, the biggest chemical group in Romania, controlled by local businessman Stefan Vuza, appointed Tivadar Runtag - a manager with broad experience in the downstream petrochemical industry, as CEO, the company announced in a press release sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, News.ro reported.

Tivadar Runtag thus replaced Stefan Vuza, who previously served as the group’s CEO.

The move comes in a key moment for the group, after Chimcomplex took over the core assets of bankrupt Oltchim chemical complex in the autumn of 2018, and is working on merging the operations.

Chimcomplex is still facing financial difficulties, Vuza said in his negotiations with the trade unions that are asking for a wage hike. He claimed that the complex is in the loss area because of the adverse circumstances on the market.

Chimcomplex indeed reported RON 1 million (EUR 0.2 mln) losses in January-September last year, compared to RON 20 mln net profit in the same period of 2018. However, its revenues soared nearly five times to RON 1 billion (EUR 205 mln) in the same period as a result of Oltchim takeover.

The losses were caused by the reevaluation of the company’s foreign currency loans contracted to finance the takeover as the local currency depreciated. Meanwhile, the company's operational results (profits) have improved.

From October 2015 to January 2020, Tivadar Runtag was CEE Cluster Manager at Prista Oil, and from 2012 to 2014 he was sales excellence manager at OMV, in Hungary. Between 2011 and 2012, he was commercial road transport manager of OMV Petrol Ofisi in Turkey.

Tivadar Runtag was also the director of the commercial division at OMV Petrom in Romania. Previously, he worked for 14 years at Shell, Hungary.

(Photo source: Chimcomplex.ro)