EnglishThe leader of former employees of "Nicolina" Iaşi, Gheorghe Păduraru, said that the company of Iaşi resuming its operations is not entirely out of the question.
"We have received insurance from AVAS that "Nicolina" will undergo a reorganization program which includes resuming production", Păduraru said, adding that the reorganization plan will be presented during the General Shareholder Assembly which is to be held on April 10th.
In support of his claims, he presented a document sent by the new AVAS chairman, Mircea Ursache, which says that "The decision on the reorganization plan of Nicolina SA which provides resuming the company"s operations, will be made at the General Shareholders"s meeting, after the plan has been reviewed".
"We hope that the creditors will join the shareholders in supporting the plan to resume operations of Nicolina Iaşi", Gheorghe Păduraru added. He hopes that the Parliament"s investigation will shed some light on what happened at Nicolina during these last few years.
"Nicolina" stopped its operations in April 2005, when the privatization contract was rescinded as well, and the stake held since 2002 by a consortium including the company"s union and the company Mecanoexportimport returned to the state. After that, the company began a restructuring program, and in December 2005 it began to lay off workers, with only 40 employees being left in January 2006. In September last year, the bankruptcy judge allowed the request made by Nicolina SA to allow the company to enter bankruptcy. 92 creditors registered on the list of people having claims against the company, amounting to 45.72 million lei. Of this amount, the receiver only accepted claims for 20.13 million lei, as the remaining amount was not backed by any documents.
Nicolina SA" scope of activity is design, production and domestic and foreign distribution of equipment used in earthwork, constructions, road repair and maintenance, preparation and casting of cement concrete and of asphalt mixes, as well as metallic products. At this time, the main shareholders of the company - apart from AVAS, that owns 56.87% of the company"s share capital, are the Association of Employees (24.69%) and SIF II Moldova (15.88%), with the rest being held by individual and corporate investors.
In order to pay off its debts towards the state, Nicolina Iaşi sold in 2007, by auction, two of its most important assets, the Earthwork equipment Division, and the Factory for Construction Equipment, with a total value of around 18 million Euros. The first asset had been bought for 6,896,328 Euros (VAT excluded), by a company from Iaşi called Real Estate Development SRL. The aforementioned company was subsequently bought by Concept Investment SRL Braşov, who thus took on the obligations assumed through the contract concluded for the Earthwork Equipment Division of Nicolina SA Iaşi. The amount owed for this asset was paid in spring 2008, all of it going to the General Department of Public Finances of the County of Iaşi. In turn, for the Construction Equipment Factory the amount bid is still unpaid. The adjudication value for the asset was 11,099,147 Euros, of which, according to a report by the management of Nicolina SA, only 4,217,362 lei were paid, with 9,698,855 Euros and 134,219 lei, including VAT, yet to be paid. Had this unpaid amount been received, the company could have paid off its debts completely and still have cash available, which could have helped it resume operations.
Also, last week, the panel of the Chamber of Deputies approved the creation of a committee which would investigate the situation of "Nicolina" Iaşi. According to the chairman of the Commission, deputy Nicuşor Păduraru, the Commission will review the way the Authority for Recovery of State Assets handled the situation of the company, in particular after the latter returned in possession of the state. "We will review how AVAS chose to protect the state"s assets, the appointment of the receivers, the equipment sales and the compliance with the decisions of the shareholder meetings. Nicolina needs such an investigation, even though it comes a bit late. It"s not acceptable for a company that was still viable to turn three years later into a place whose assets are sold off one at a time", Nicuşor Păduraru said. He also said that the sales of the company"s assets that occurred two years ago will be reviewed as well, because they helped the company "Concept Investment" of Braşov gain control of Nicolina. "I think the commission will need six months to do its work", Mr. Păduraru said.
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