GFR, interested in the Bulgarian railroad freight company

Grup Feroviar Român (GFR) (Romanian Railroad Group), a company owned by the "Grampet Group" corporation, controlled by businessman Gruia Stoica, is interested in the privatization of the Bulgarian railroad freight company. On Monday, GFR bought, on its own behalf, the tender book for the privatization of "BDZ Cargo" of Bulgaria, according to a press release sent to the editors, which states: "Grup Feroviar Român is currently reviewing these privatization documents, as well as the impact which the privatization will have on GFR - < Grampet Group >".

By the deadline, nine companies had acquired the documents for the privatization of BDZ, as announced yesterday by the Agency for Privatization of Bulgaria, quoted by Novinite, in turn quoted by Mediafax. Nine Bulgarian companies were among the buyers of the tender book - "First Investment Bank", "Bulgarian Ship Company" and "Bulgarian Railway Company".

At the end of December 2012, the Bulgarian press announced that, at the time, there were seven investors interested in acquiring the freight division of BDZ, including Russian state owned company RZD and GFR.

At the time, RZD requested an extension of the deadline for submitting tender offers, because the holidays had delayed the preparation of the documents needed for the procedure.

In November last year, the Bulgarian privatization agency restarted the call for tenders for the freight division of BDZ, after the first attempt to sell it failed. Only strategic investors and from the financial sector are allowed to participate In the second call for tenders.

The minimum asking price for BDZ was cut to 100 million leva (51 million Euros) from 200 million leva (102 million Euros), in the first privatization attempt.

The freight division is the only profitable department of BDZ, and the money earned from the privatization would be used to cover the debt and reinvigorate the passenger division.

The Bulgarian Railway Company (BZK), which belongs to GFR, is one of the companies which bought the documents for the privatization call for tenders. However, it does not meet the new terms imposed by the privatization agency, which also requires a minimum turnover for the last three years, as reported in the last few days, by "Standart" of Sofia, quoted by the local press.

The deadline for buying the tender books for the privatization of the Bulgarian railroad freight company expired on Monday, at 17:30, and the bids may be submitted by March 12th, 15:00.

Companies looking to participate in the privatization process have until the end of January to fill out and submit the necessary documents. After that, they must submit a binding offer and set up a deposit.

GFR is the second largest Romanian railroad freight operator, after state owned CFR Marfă. In 2011, it had a turnover of approximately 761 million lei and a profit of almost 29 million lei, according to data on the website of the Ministry of Public Finance (MFP).

Considering all the areas related to railroad transportation, such as freight, repairs and the rental of the rolling stock, the production of components, the transshipment of the freight cars, the logistics services, the IT solutions specific to the railroad segment, the "Grampet" group, which is 100% Romanian-owned, operates on the Pan-European transport lanes and in SE Europe, expanding to Romania's neighboring countries.

The corporation is present in eight other countries, aside from Romania: Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

Stressing that he pays attention to "every opportunity which arises", Gruia Stoica said in an interview, (the only one he ever granted the press in his over 20 years of activity), that "Grup Feroviar Român" is the "crown jewel" of "Grampet".

Aside from GFR, "Grampet" also owns other railroad operators, in countries such as Bulgaria and Hungary.

"We have six spedition houses operating in Germany, Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine and Moldova. We have also have five factories for the construction, maintenance and upgrading of rolling stock, of which two are outside Romania", the owner of "Grampet" said.

Gruia Stoica says: "The railroad transport sector has an extreme strategic importance in Romania, as well as in Europe. The European Community is increasingly concerned with the development of this sector, since it represents an ecologic, safe and fast alternative to road transport. This is demonstrated by the < Marco Polo strategy >, which has the development of the railroad transport and of the intermodal transport as basic pillars. It is clear that this is the direction where things are headed, as merchandise is expected to travel increasingly faster and farther, and the limitations of road transport are becoming obvious. This is the strategic development avenue and I am happy to be at the forefront in Romania when it comes to that. My wish would be for the Romanian state to succeed in putting together a strategy on that regard, like most of the major European decision-makers did, because we need to keep up with the civilized world, and more than that, due to our geostrategic position, we need to grasp the advantages we have. What is certain is that the 21st century will belong to the railroad, which will expand more and more, and the rolling stock will see increasingly spectacular developments".