Gruia Stoica, up in the locomotive of CFR Marfă

The questions that have cast a shadow from the very beginning on the procedure for the privatization of CFR Marfă hve followed this process all the way until its end, as the sale of over half of the shares of the railroad operator was made by a secretary of state.

Even though she was present at the event, Ramona Mănescu, the newly appointed minister of transports, did not stand by the privatization of CFR Marfă, as the contract for the sale of the company was signed by secretary of state Cristian Ghibu, the president of the privatization commission and by Sorin Chinde, the general manager of Grup Feroviar Român (GFR), controlled by businessman Gruia Stoica, who also attended the signing ceremony.

The much awaited and advertised event took place without the presence of the press.

Relu Fenechiu, the former minister of transports, during whose term the winner of the call for bids of the privatization of CFR Marfă was announced, finds it normal for the document by which CFR Marfă was sold to be signed by Cristian Ghibu, because, "being the one who signed all the papers for this privatization, he was the most qualified to sign the sale contract".

PM Victor Ponta last week set the task for Ramonei Mănescu, the new minister of Transports, to call to the ministry the representatives of the company that won the call for bids for the sale of 51% in the shares of CFR Marfă in order to sign the contract.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that the ten million Euros which represent the participation collateral have already been submitted, and 30 days from now the amount of 20 million Euros would be submitted in an escrow account - 10% of the amount of the contract.

Gruia Stoica said that he would pay the entire amount of 202 million Euros after receiving the license of the Competition Council, as, according to the law, the CC has six months to determine whether the acquisition of CFR Marfă (with a market share of 50%) by GFR, which holds approximately 30% of the market, will form an economic concentration. The Government decision by which the controversial contract was approved on July 24th, stipulates that the price for the deal must be paid within 60 days from the publication of the document in the Official Gazette, respectively August 14th.

Gruia Stoica said yesterday, after the signing of the sale contract, that in the coming days GFR will send the notification to the Competition Council, and said that yesterday's event only represents "a preliminary phase" and that no changes were made to the contract for the privatization of CFR Marfă.

Iulică Măntescu, the president of the Romanian Federation of Locomotive Drivers considers that the Government will classify the contract for the sale of 51% of CFR Marfă, and stressed that none of the officials of the unions were accepted to attend the signing of this privatization contract.

Grup Feroviar Român (GFR), a company which belongs to Grampet, was designated the winner of the call for tenders for the privatization of CFR Marfă in June.

Committing to pay a price of 202 million Euros and to invest an additional 200 million Euros, GFR has the obligation to notify the Competition Council in order to obtain an approval which would allow it to form a private monopoly by concluding this deal.

Bogdan Chiriţoiu, the president of the Competition Council (CC), was estimating about two weeks ago, that it would take about a month from the moment GFR sent the notification to determine whether the formation of a private monopoly would be made by the Competition Council or by the European Commission.

Concerning this situation, Mr. Chiriţoiu told us: "From a legal point of view, we have six months to obtain the approval. On average, for us it takes about two months to issue an approval in a simple case, and this is not a simple case, which implies that the delay for us to give our approval would range from two to six months. I can't pledge that I would approve such a deal within a delay which is shorter than the average".

Last night, at the closing of the edition, the officials of Grampet said: "The Grampet-GFR group has complied and will continue to comply with the requirements of the tender book and of the privatization procedure. We will submit in due course the request for approval from the Competition Council. Our only concern as a potential buyer is to honor the contract that we signed today (ed. note: yesterday). The other deadlines depend on the seller".

Even though president Traian Băsescu repeatedly said that GFR doesn't have the money for CFR Marfă, sources close to the deal told us that businessman Gruia Stoica has secured from the IFC, the investment division of the World Bank, a large part of the amount that he needs to pay to the Romanian state for more than half of the shares of the railroad operator.

• Măntescu: "It would have been a fairer thing to do for the assets of CFR Marfă to be transferred to the AAAS"

According to some rumors, the authorities intend to transfer some important assets, such as the dock in the Port of Constanţa, from the portfolio of CFR Marfă to that of the Authority for the Management of the Assets of the State (AAAS).

Relu Fenechiu told us that the information concerning the railroad operator studied by the investor in the data room can not be changed in any way.

He said: "There wouldn't be any reason to transfer assets from CFR Marfă to the AAAS. Indeed, assets are being transferred to other railroad companies, such as CFR Infrastructură".

Iulică Măntescu considers that it would have been "fairer" for the assets in question to be transferred to the AAAS.

"From the very beginning, those assets should have been transferred to the AAAS, because they belonged to the state. At first, the intention was to transfer all of the concerned assets to CFR SA, but the latter refused to take all of them over, perhaps because the transfer is illegal. We can't transfer assets from one company to another free of charge. The transfer was supposed to be done through an auction. But, after the refusal of CFR SA, it was decided that part of the assets would be transferred to the Company for the Management of Railroad Assets (SAAF). From our point of view, all of the buildings should have been returned to the state, because the SAAF is a company that has constantly lost money and that is incapable of managing its own assets, and we are talking here about hotels, plots of land and important buildings that are being transferred".

Iulică Măntescu told us that SAAF was created in 1998, and it had possession "of the surplus of plots of land, buildings, train cars and locomotives". According to the legislative document by which the company was created, it was supposed to give 80% of its revenues to the other state-owned companies, to allow them to upgrade their rolling stock, something which it never did, said Iulică Măntescu.

A few days prior to the appointment of a winner of the call for tenders, the unions in the industry have announced that the authorities have changed the share capital of CFR Marfă, through two actions of the leaders of the Ministry of Transports, of which the first consisted of transferring free of charge certain assets worth 63.8 million lei, from the patrimony of CFR Marfă to SNCFR and SAAF.

At the end of May, the shareholders of CFR Marfă have decided to transfer free of charge several hundred assets and tens of hectares of land to CFR SA and SAAF.

Some of the most attractive buildings which are concerned by the transfer comprise the 9-floor office building of the Turda street in Bucharest, where the central headquarters of the company is; the club and the cafeteria of the Bucureşti-Triaj depot; the CFR Marfă hotel in Predeal, which has 29 rooms and a conference room; the apartment buildings for singles in Simeria and Caransebeş; the warehouse and cafeteria in Feteşti; over 20 buildings of the Ferry-Boat terminal and the two ferry-boats called Eforie and Mangalia; as well as the railway stations Progresul in Bucharest and Constanţa Mărfuri; several plots of land in Constanţa, Galaţi, Craiova, Iaşi, Botoşani and Bucharest; an administrative building in Iaşi and the CFR maintenance shops in CFR in Călimăneşti, Turnu Măgurele, Râul Vadului, Zimnicea, Piatra Neamţ and Comăneşti.