The Ministry of the Economy announces that BCR Erste wants to become a shareholder of "Oltchim"

Even though the head of "Oltchim" was forced to retract his statement that BCR would become a shareholder of Oltchim, another official yesterday announced that the Romanian Commercial Bank has issued its "on principle agreement" for a debt-to-equity conversion of part of part of the line of credit granted to the company of Vâlcea.

"BCR has already agreed on principle to the debt-to-equity conversion of half of the plant"s credit line".

Banca Transilvania (BT) is also willing to become a shareholder of Oltchim, in exchange for 7 million Euros, part of a line of credit", said Karoly Borbely, secretary of state in the Ministry of the Economy, quoted by Mediafax. Borbely added that Oltchim also has suppliers that are owed money by the company and are interested in becoming shareholders.

Borbely"s statement comes after the Romanian Securities Commission (CNVM) said that it has suspicions concerning some trades involving Oltchim stock, after Constantin Roibu, the president-CEO of the plant, announced that BCR would become a shareholder of the plant and later retracted his statement, saying that the bank had not yet reached a final decision. Shares of OLT rose almost 12% after the statement made by Roibu.

At the time, BCR officials said that the bank expressed its potential interest in "Oltchim" and said that it becoming a shareholder of the company depends on the fulfillment of certain criteria.

Contacted by BURSA, officials from the Ministry of the Economy, the majority shareholder of "Oltchim" made the following statement: "Romania notified the European Commission, in July 2009, on the program to support Oltchim. Thus, we have announced our plan to increase the share capital of the company, a procedure which would allow the state to convert the receivables of the AVAS (Authority for State Assets Recovery) against Oltchim into stock, and to grant rights of preemption to existing shareholders.

This will create the legal premises for the conversion of debt to equity of the claims of private creditors, which will thus be able to participate in the share capital increase of the company, while meeting the criteria and the conditions imposed by the legal framework regulating state aids".

The management of "Oltchim" Râmnicu Vâlcea recently announced that the company returned to profit in September, as the operating earnings fully cover the financial losses.

According to the management of "Oltchim", the plant had an EBITDA of 12.94 million lei in September, for a turnover of 132 million lei.