The Russians and the Chinese, interested in CFR Marfă

Aside from companies in Austria and Germany, the privatization of CFR Marfă is also interesting for companies in Russia and China.

Ştefan Roşeanu, secretary general of the Association of the Railway Industry (AIF) and senior partner of the Railway Club, claims that there is an increased interest from companies in Russia and China for our railway company: "The privatization of CFR Marfă can offer countless surprises, more or less pleasant. It all depends on the restructuring steps that will be taken by the Ministry of Transports to get it ready for privatization. Given the current state of the company, I don"t think that there will be European companies willing to buy it, with all the debt and the unprofitable divisions it has. However, the Russians and the Chinese may remain interested, because it would allow them to secure the transport of their goods to Western Europe".

According to Roşeanu, the strategy to sell 100% of CFR Marfă is adequate at the current time: "All the state did was to make this company unprofitable, and the political clientele, regardless of its affiliations, did nothing but leech off it. The privatization is a solution to help this company grow, which will bring money to the state budget not only by its mere sale, but also through the increase in the traffic of goods, in investments and in income tax. From my point of view, an excellent solution would have been to list CFR Marfă on the stock exchange. Except that the state should truly want to restructure the company, to make it more transparent and profitable. Honestly, I doubt the state is capable of such a feat".

The official of the AIF doesn"t expect the sale of CFR Marfă to happen in less than a year. The Ministry of Transports needs to spin off the unprofitable divisions of the company, such as the administration of ferryboats, car and locomotive repairs. What"s more, the company also needs to restructure its staff. Ştefan Roşeanu added: "CFR Marfă needs to have a more flexible offer and to attract the great logistics operators. Its private competitors have been doing this for a long time. The transport of goods is on a rising trend, but CFR Marfă is still losing money. Private operators in the sector have long since extended their services abroad, whereas CFR Marfă hasn"t even considered it".

From his point of view, the losses of the company are not caused by the crisis, but by the lack of concern for effective management. As for the current market value of the company, the AIF official says that it is difficult to determine, but under no circumstances is the company worth one billion, as estimated by the unions in the sector. At the current stage, the state will not get much for it, nor will it get many bids. But with an adequate reorganization, its value could increase and so would the number of bidders, the representative of the Association of the Railway Industry says.