English
• Compared to the first trading session of the year, the stock of Oltchim is eight times dearer
The shares of "Oltchim" are 3.4 times more expensive than they were a month ago, but to PCC SE they seem priceless. Well known for his fierce battle with the management of the plant, "Oltchim" minority shareholder PCC SE, has turned the Stock Exchange into a battleground: its people sat down in front of the keyboard and started buying, and apparently the company has a bottomless wallet.
While on May 11th, PCC SE reported buying shares of OLT at 0.5186 lei/unit, on June 6th, less than a month later it was wiling to offer sellers three times as much (1.49 lei/share). During this period, PCC SE spent 3.5 million Euros on OLT shares.
Aside from the support of the minority shareholder, for now, brokers have no other explanation for the evolution of OLT. Besides, in most of the sessions when it was present in the market, PCC SE accounted for more than half of the liquidity of the stock. Initially, analysts thought the rise in the price of OLT was caused by the plan of the Romanian state to privatize the company, which was a very good piece of news for the minority shareholder, who claims: "Privatization is the best solution for Oltchim, for its employees and for the community of Vâlcea, providing the best premises for the recovery and the development of the company".
At the end of May, Wojciech Zaremba, the representative of PCC SE Romania, said that the company was ready to cooperate with all the shareholders of Oltchim, which included both the majority shareholder (the Romanian state), as well as Carlson Investment Fund, in order to find solutions for the difficult situation that Oltchim was in. Also at the end of May, Artur Jedrzejewski, managing partner la "Carlson Private Equity", which owns about 12% of "Oltchim" Râmnicu Vâlcea, said that the investment fund would be willing to make its exit from the plant at any time, provided it found a buyer.
The capitalization of "Oltchim" has reached 603.7 million lei, with the closing price reaching 1.759 lei yesterday, about eight times higher compared to that of the first session of the year.
The plant has significantly reduced its losses YOY, from 52.8 million lei to 2.64 million lei in Q1 2011, and is now operating at 40-45% of its capacity, as opposed to 20% in Q1 2010.
"Oltchim" also announced that it intends to sell its 30% stake in "Protectchim" Râmnicu Vâlcea, in an auction with the starting price of 1.71 million lei plus VAT, as well as the 25% stake in "Mentchim", in an auction with the starting price of 375,000 lei plus VAT.
Euro
Dolar SUA
Franc elveţian
Liră sterlină
Gram de aur
