"Oltchim" greets investors with protesters standing before the gates

• Wojciech Zaremba, PCC SE: We are prepared to participate in the three calls for bids, but we want to see the terms

PCC SE, the minority shareholder of Oltchim, is willing to participate in the three calls for bids announced by the state, but it thinks that at any rate, the time left until the expiration of the deadline for privatization is too short to thoroughly review the imposed conditions, says Wojciech Zaremba, the representative of the company in Romania.

Wojciech Zaremba, the representative of PCC SE in Romania, yesterday said in an interview: "We were prepared to back the conversion of the receivable of the AVAS as well and we very close to signing a deal in that regard, but the Government changed the privatization strategy as well.

We now have three calls for bids - for the stock of Oltchim, for the receivable of the AVAS, and for the receivable against Electrica. As for the call for bids for the block of shares, things are more or less clear, we know what to expect and we see no problem with submitting the bid". But the calls for bids for the two receivables are causing us a great deal of trouble, because we are already on September 5th, and there is very little time left to submit the bids, but we have no detail on this.

We need time to understand the conditions of the calls for bids. It will be rather difficult for us to understand the terms and conditions and to prepare an adequate offer on time.

And if it's difficult for us, who have been involved in this process for years, for other potential investors it will be a disaster. It will be almost impossible to prepare their bids in such a short time".

Mr. Zaremba says he is concerned about ending up taking the blame if the privatization of "Oltchim" goes badly: "I want a transparent, open process, and I want everybody to have equal chances, to have enough time to review the conditions.

In the end, the very brief delay for submitting the bids will be a very good reason for challenging the entire privatization process.

For me, any solution works, as long as it is fair, I don't want to win the call for bids and then be accused that I had some advantage because I've already been here for five or six years.

This is our concern, that we have too little time to prepare the offering thoroughly and also, it is not good for the market, for competition, that we still don't know anything about the calls for bids for the two receivables (ed. note: at the time of the interview, the terms of the calls for bids of the receivables of Oltchim were not public). This is not normal. There is too little time, and it can harm the entire process.

At any rate, if this process fails, we will probably have to deal with insolvency. This could destroy Oltchim forever, because in the chemical industry, stopping production for a long time makes it very difficult to resume it".

The representative of PCC SE says that he doesn't know whether he would succeed in time to review the terms for participating in the privatization of "Oltchim": "Theoretically, I am ready to participate in the call for bids. But I don't yet know the minimum bid, and the collateral. All of these terms need to be reviewed. If I only get six days to prepare everything, I don't know if I will be able to finish on time.

If the state were to announce these calls for bids tomorrow (ed. note: today), we will have six days available to talk to the banks, to prepare the guarantee, to prepare the bid. In order to be prepared you must know the terms and compare them with what you can do.

If the stock and the receivables are bought by distinct investors, those who buy the latter could cause serious problems for the company. The situation is unpredictable. Due to the lack of information, I don't know anything about the possible scenarios".

However, Mr. Zaremba expressed his interest in participating in all of the three calls for bids, but only if he knew exactly what that entailed.

He also said that PCC SE will try to negotiate its position with the state, because it wouldn't be acceptable for it to end up buying "Oltchim", and have everybody showing up to ask for money on the next day.

"We believe that whoever acquires the company must have the support of the government to solve the problems of Oltchim".

Wojciech Zaremba also said he doesn't know anything about the protests at the plant: "But I can understand that the people are unhappy and confused because this process has already lasted far too long. They are exhausted. I understand them when they say that they no longer have jobs and that they don't know what will happen in the short term.

Mr. Zaremba denied the rumors that PCC SE bought receivables against "Oltchim", to gain an edge in its negotiations with the Romanian government. "100% false. We have no receivables against Oltchim", he said.

Wojciech Zaremba also has some good news for the Bucharest Stock Exchange, which has seen several delistings lately.

If it succeeds in winning the privatization of Oltchim, PCC SE will not delist the company from the stock market.

"We did not consider delisting the company", said Wojciech Zaremba, who added: "First of all, we will focus on saving the company. I think that this is the most important thing for us.

We need to reorganize the company, secure working capital... We have to negotiate with the creditors, we need to draft the restructuring plan - for debts and production. It makes no sense to buy a company and to shut it down. I've been accused of that in the past. It would have been enough to wait for Oltchim to destroy itself. I can say that Oltchim exists because of PCC. For years on end, we have been saying that we are interested in the company, that we want to invest. It was information which was broadcasted publicly, which led other investors to have faith in the company. Furthermore, we have decided to buy stock, which caused its price to rise".

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The resignation and the lie of Constantin Roibu

Constantin Roibu yesterday resigned from the positions of CEO, which he held for 21 years, and member of the Board of Oltchim (OLT), as a result of the proposal of the head of the OPSPI, Remus Vulpescu, to replace the management of the chemical plant, according to a press release sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Mihai Diculoiu, the president of the Free Union of Oltchim, had announced the resignation of Roibu, first thing in the morning.

Contacted by BURSA around 11 o'clock, Constantin Roibu said that he hasn't resigned and he doesn't intend to.

The press release published by the BSE, at 14:12, states: "The decision to resign from the positions of member of the Board and CEO is the result of the following: a) the proposal of Mr. Remus Vulpescu, the head of the Office For The State's Interests and Industrial Privatization (OPSPI) of the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Business Environment to replace the management of Oltchim, as a requirement for securing the working capital for the functioning of the installations of the company and the payment of the wages to date to the company's employees; b) the lack of dialog and cooperation between the head of the Office For The State's Interests and Industrial Privatization and the management of Oltchim, which blocked any funding initiatives of the company's activity, which caused its installations to stop functioning", according to a press release sent by Oltchim to the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).

Trading in the stock of Oltchim was suspended.

Along with Roibu, 15 directors and the chief- accountant have handed in their resignations, including the deputy general manager of production and investments, Nicolae Radu Olaru, and the deputy CFO Alin Smeu.

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• Mihai Diculoiu, of the Oltchim union: Protests will continue

The protest launched yesterday by the employees of Oltchim, will continue in the coming days, said Mihai Diculoiu, the president of the Free Union Oltchim.

He explained: "The protests will continue until prime minister Victor Ponta decides to review the problems of Oltchim responsibly.

Today (ed. note: yesterday's) protest was spontaneous. People want to know about the future of Oltchim, they don't want to hear anymore stories, like one day the privatization strategy being changed, and < the company is getting wound up > the next.

What's more, the wages haven't been paid since July.

Even though we have been warning since November 2008 about the situation at Oltchim, all we got was unkept promises.

Today (ed. note: yesterday), about 400 employees of the plant came out to protest. Tomorrow there may be more of them."

The union leader remains unhappy with the fact that the Ministry of the Economy did not implement the decision of Prime Minister Victor Ponta of July 19th, 2012, to increase the share capital of Oltchim, by converting the receivables of the AVAS into stock, according to the authorization of the European Commission, and the accessing of a loan of 40 million Euros for working capital, in the pre-privatization period.

Anotehr problem is that all of the installations of Oltchim are currently unpowered, because it hasn't paid its electric bills, says Mihai Diculoiu, who added: "Oltchim hasn't paid its debts towards its suppliers, because it has no working capital.

We want Oltchim to work until privatization with the installations of Râmnicu Vâlcea. We need funding. The authorities have changed the strategy for the privatization of Oltchim and are now looking to sell the block of shares together with the receivables of the AVAS and Electrica.

Under these circumstances, I doubt that there will be any investors capable of supporting the operation of Oltchim in integration with Arpechim Piteşti, like we want it to.

Hence, Oltchim will be liquidated, as per the orders of the IMF".

• Mihai Diculoiu: The head of the OPSPI has conditioned the providing of working capital on the resignation of CEO Constantin Roibu

In a meeting with the Free Union of Oltchim in the beginning of the week, the head of the Office For The State's Interests and Industrial Privatization (OPSPI), Remus Vulpescu said that he was trying to find a way for financing the plant (which has its installations turned off), if its management gets replaced, according to Mr. Diculoiu.

He explained: "I have asked Remus Vulpescu to find a way to provide financing to the plant. He said he was trying to raise funding from banks, if the management of Oltchim is replaced.

In turn, I have asked for some social guarantees: for the outstanding wages for the months of July and August to be paid, and not to lay off people.

Remus Vulpescu said he was trying to do something, but that he was making no promises".

Then, the CEO of Oltchim, Constantin Roibu, after a discussion with the head of the OPSPI, told the latter that if he succeeds in raising funding for the plant, he would hand in his resignation, the union leader said, "which Constantin Roibu did".

According to the unionist, the lack of dialog and collaboration between the head of the OPSPI and the management of Oltchim led to the freezing of any initiative to finance the activity of the plant, which led to the shutdown of the installations of the company.

Mihai Diculoiu concluded that Remus Vulpescu is now trying to raise funding from banks, like he promised. (VIVIANI MIRICĂ)