Romaero Borrows 10-12 Mln RON To Pay Debts To State

Romaero is planning to borrow 10-12 million RON to pay overdue debts to the State. The loan would be collateralized with several assets, according to an announcement published in the Official Gazette quoted by NewsIn. Romaero has a share capital of 15.61 million RON and is controlled by the State Assets Recovery Authority (AVAS) with 72.9%.

SIF Muntenia is the second largest shareholder with 25.85%. The company builds and repairs aircraft and posted a net profit of 462,000 RON nine months through 2006, up by 100% from the corresponding period of 2005. The turnover for the same interval was 30.4 million RON, up by 4%. At the end of Q3:2006, debts amounted to 54 million RON.

• Defence Minister Awaits Court of Appeal Explanation On Alenia

Defence Minister Teodor Melescanu said he was going to wait for the explanatory note to the Court of Appeal ruling on the contract with Alenia and added that the said company was going to be required to provide at least one or two Spartan aircraft in one year.

"Today (i.e. Tuesday) we received the Court of Appeal ruling in Alenia"s favor indicating that the objections made by the competing company to the tender held to award this contract were groundless," Melescanu said. "We have already started preliminary procedures in order to invite Alenia to sign the contract. Given the delay caused by the contestation, we will ask them to consider providing one or two aircraft this year," he said.

Alenia Aeronautica will no longer invest 12 million EUR/year in Romaero if the relevant authorities do not settle the contestation filed by this company, according to Alenia VP International Sales Paolo Pozzessere. "We are not putting any pressure on the authorities, but we will probably not invest in Romaero after all, because we create jobs and we need to be sure that things will function normally," he said.

Alenia is accusing the National Council for Contestation Resolution (CNSC) of having broken the law by accepting the contestation filed by EADS Construcciones Aeronauticas SA - Spain, which nullified the outcome of the tender won by Alenia. The council partially admitted the contestation and ruled to nullify the open tender procedure for the procurement of seven short- and medium-haul carriers, initial logistic support and lifecycle maintenance service.

In the Council"s opinion, the tender was organized in violation of the principles on transparency, equality and non-discrimination. Alenia replied they had fully observed the tender book and that their price was by 42,280,586 EUR smaller than the EADS price.