The European Commission is awaiting clarifications on the issue of Oltchim"s debts

• Victor Cazana, OPSPI: "We sent just about all the documents that were needed"

Almost two years after the opening of the investigation concerning a possible debt-to-equity conversion of the 140 million Euros of debt of Oltchim, the authorities in Brussels claim that they still need clarifications on this matter. "The < Oltchim > case is still under investigation", said Maria Madrid, of the Press Office of the European Competition Commissioner, upon an inquiry by "BURSA", and added: "The Commission is constantly talking to the Romanian authorities and will make a decision on this case, as soon as the authorities of Bucharest will have made the necessary decisions".

The Romanian officials say that they have remitted the requested documents to the Commission and that the issue of the conversion of the debt of "Oltchim" is constantly discussed with the authorities of Brussels.

"We sent just about all the documents that were needed", said Victor Cazana, the president of the "Office For The State"s Interests and Industrial Privatization" (OPSPI), who added: "The topic of the conversion of the company"s debt conversion into equity is extremely important and has been discussed each time in the meetings with the officials of the Commission. I wouldn"t tie the privatization of the plant to this issue, they are two different matters, which have their own evolution, but, certainly, an answer from the European Commission concerning the increase of the share capital of "Oltchim" could have an impact worth taking into consideration on the situation of the company".

However, it is possible that the Romanian authorities will lobby the officials of Brussels to hurry the investigation on "Oltchim", given the fact that the plant must be privatized by the end of the year, according to the Letter of Intent sent to the International Monetary Fund.

Besides, the president of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chiriţoiu, has been in Brussels for a few days, and the issue of the conversion of the debts of "Oltchim" to the state is on the agenda of the talks which will be held with the European officials.

"Given the fact that Oltchim is mentioned in the agreements with the IMF and the European Commission, we hope that in a few months we will get an answer on this investigation", said the president of the Romanian Competition Council, who added: "The 18-month deadline which is usually set for completing an investigation was exceeded and the Commission also wants to finalize this investigation".

The conversion into stock Oltchim"s debt has experienced opposition of the strongest minority shareholder of the plant, the Poles of PCC SE, who, in the event the share capital were increased by the amount of the debt, would be forced to bring in more money or else see their stake diluted. PCC SE sent petitions to the European officials and to the domestic ones, warning that the share capital increase of "Oltchim" through a debt-to-equity conversion violates existing legislation.

"PCC SE, the main minority shareholder of Oltchim, will never agree to the conversion of the claims as a solution for the recovery of Oltchim. The position of PCC SE is based on legal arguments", the officials of PCC SE were saying in 2009, mentioning among others, that the European legislation stipulates that the measure of increasing the share capital is the exclusive jurisdiction of the General Shareholder Meeting, and can not be imposed by the Parliament.

"It was a surprise for us and for the Commission as well that a shareholder of Oltchim acted against its own company", said Bogdan Chiriţoiu, referring PCC SE"s lobbying against the debt-to-equity conversion.

"This kind of actions usually comes from competitors... They protest the fact that other companies than their own are receiving state aids", the president of the Competition Council said.

Oltchim"s stock (OLT) gained 613% since the beginning of the year, and 180% over the last month, but fell 15% for two days in a row in the last two days of last week.