Show around the sale of "Oltchim"

• The owner of Rafo Oneşti, interested in the plant of Vâlcea

German company PCC, "Petrochemical Holding" Austria, the owner of RAFO Oneşti, and AISA, the company of businessman Ştefan Vuza, were interested in buying presentation folder to participate in the privatization of "Oltchim", according to sources close to the situation.

Aside from these companies, journalist Dan Diaconescu has expressed his intention to buy "Oltchim".

"I am trying to buy Oltchim, but not on my own", said Dan Diaconescu. "I am trying to do it together with all my viewers, with the entire Romanian people, with everybody who wants to subscribe in this act".

Investors still have a week left to buy presentation folders in "Oltchim".

Some sources claim that the Russians of TISE want to sue the Romanian state, for changing the participation rules mid-game.

Apparently these changes have disqualified TISE, before it participated in the call for tenders.

What is interesting is the appearance of "Petrochemical Holding" Austria, as a potential investor in Oltchim. The Austrian company currently holds 96.5% of Rafo Oneşti.

In the month of August, the shareholders have approved the beginning of the negotiation procedure in order to take out a loan of 330 million Euros proposed by the managers of the company, from various foreign creditors, in order to retool and modernize Rafo Oneşti. "Petrochemical Holding" GmbH Austria was setup in 1996. It is headquartered in Vienna and has a share capital of 200,000 million Euros. Its line of business consists of petrochemistry and financial investments. The main petrochemical companies which "Petrochemical Holding" controls are RAFO SA of Romania, Korund and Wellchem, of the Russian Federation, and Grizzy Gas of Poland, and in the financial sector, Devision Ukraine and Teknol, of the Russian Federation.

Iakov Goldovskiy, the representative of Petrochemical Holding, is currently reevaluating all the available options for developing his business.

Iakov Goldovskiy has as his advisor Grigory Luchansky, who is close to Rakhat Aliev - the son-in-law of the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev.

• The petrochemical chain of Rafo-Oltchim-Arpechim

Over time, the creation of a common project which involves the creation of a petrochemical chain which would include "Rafo", "Oltchim" and the petrochemical division of "Arpechim" has been discussed.

The petrochemical division of "Arpechim" has been acquired by Oltchim, and the only link missing from the petrochemical chain would be the refinery of Oneşti.

The idea of the petrochemical chain came from the Azeri, who, over time have borne negotiations for the purchasing of the Arpechim refinery and have expressed their interest in Rafo Oneşti refinery, as well as in acquiring Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea, which they wanted to include in a regional complex, together with the Arpechim refinery.

In an interview granted in May 2010, minister of the economy Adriean Videanu was saying that "Oltchim and Rafo, complementarily speaking, could represent a very important economic ensemble".

• Sensational: Dan Diaconescu enters the fray

Dan Diaconescu wants to buy "Oltchim" at any cost, which he considers a national symbol.

The owner of OTV has also said that he has officially expressed his intention in a letter sent to the government. In his "sensational" style, DD says: "We are doing what must be done. If we do not buy Oltchim, it will be PCC who will buy it, a company, which, in my opinion belongs to the Băsescu group, because it is officially represented in Romania by Sebastian Vlădescu. The tender book is specifically designed to favor this German-Polish company. Some Chinese companies have bid 2 billion Euros, and a Russian company has bid 1.5 billion Euros".

Dan Diaconescu also says that the price is low and that he will pay for the tender book himself, and expects the Romanians' support for the rest of the amount: "The tender book costs 20,000 lei and I will pay for it out of pocket, and then the collateral of 130,000 Euros which we will raise very quickly from our viewers, and then I will buy for four million Euros something which is actually worth 8 billion Euros. Why should the Poles buy something with 4 million Euros, for the Polish people, instead of us buying it for the Romanian people? "

Very determined in his decision, Dan Diaconescu has sent a crew to film yesterday's General Shareholder Meeting.

He said: "We have received a power of attorney from several small shareholders and we want to challenge today's shareholder meeting (ed. note: yesterday), and the meeting of the Board of Directors (ed. note: today). We will film today's General Shareholder Meeting" (ed. note: OTV was allowed to film the General Shareholder Meeting).

The owner of OTV said he would double the highest bid.

When asked how he would know what the best price was, Dan Diaconescu said: "We are journalists. We will certainly find out".

• Ponta: Two investors for "Oltchim"

Prime Minister Victor Ponta last week announced that there are two major companies, from two totally different geographical areas which are interested in the plant of Vâlcea.

Previously, he had said that he was concerned that "there wouldn't be any investors showing up" for the privatization.

It wasn't clear whether, when he said that, Victor Ponta was considering minority shareholder of "Oltchim" PCC which owns 32% of the company acting in concert with another shareholder. Over time, PCC SE has clashed with the former CEO of Oltchim, Constantin Roibu, who has recently resigned, and with Remus Vulpescu, the head of the OPSPI, whom they accused of breaking his confidentiality agreements. In spite of all the disagreements, PCC SE never stopped expressing its interest in acquiring "Oltchim".

• Remus Vulpescu, OPSPI: Five investors interested in "Oltchim"

In mid-August, Remus Vulpescu, the chief of the Office For The State's Interests and Industrial Privatization (OPSPI), said that there were more than five investors interested in "Oltchim", but it is very possible that he was also counting the four companies which had submitted letters of intent, in spring. In May, the OPSPI announced that it has received four bids for Oltchim, from PCC, Pegamont Ploieşti, Aisa (a company owned by businessman Ştefan Vuza) and Russian company TISE.