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Prime Minister Victor Ponta yesterday commented on the privatization of Oltchim, saying that the situation of the plant is not exactly, great, because one of the bids is "exotic" (most likely he was speaking of Diaconescu), and Chimcomplex is "too small" compared to Oltchim.
After Ponta's statement, the SCR group, controlled by Ştefan Vuza, announced that the bid he placed for Oltchim through Aisa Invest and Chimcomplex, involves other industrial groups in Romania. "They will be involved in the Oltchim project, all the way to the production of ethylene, such as the case of the InterAgro group", the press release of SCR states.
"For strategic reasons, the information about the consortium of companies in the Romanian industry, which support the Oltchim project of the SCR Group, which is looking at its functioning within optimal parameters (by creating jobs and ensuring an economic balance needed to the chemical industry), were confidential, but today (ed. note: yesterday), we can make part of it public", the group controlled by Ştefan Vuza said.
Ioan Niculae, the president of InterAgro, said for BURSA: "I am interested in Oltchim. I had a principle discussion with Ştefan Vuza who came to see me today (ed. note: yesterday), and he suggested I participate with him in the privatization of Oltchim. Before deciding and investing, however, I want to conduct an audit of Oltchim, to see the company's real situation. I mean an audit which I would be paid for by me, performed by a major company, which would clearly tell me what debts Oltchim has, and its financial situation. Vuza said he wants to talk to two or three other powerful Romanian businessmen, but I don't know anything besides that".
Three investors submitted bids for Oltchim on Monday, when the initial privatization deadline expired: Ştefan Vuza through Aisa Invest and Chimcomplex, Dan Diaconescu and PCC SE. Other companies which expressed interest in Oltchim are Pegamont Ploieşti of Romania and TISE of Russia.
The head of the Government yesterday said that the privatization deadline will not be postponed any longer after September 21st, which was announced on Monday by the OPSPI. The deadline for submitting bids was extended until tomorrow, and the open outcry auction will be held on Friday. If the bids aren't accepted, Oltchim will go into receivership, but only briefly, Victor Ponta said. The government insists in finding a powerful investor for Oltchim.
When asked who he would prefer as an investor for Oltchim if he were to choose between Gazprom and Dan Diaconescu, Ponta replied: "Whoever saves the jobs and has the money to invest is welcome. Politically, I wouldn't even have anything against Dan Diaconescu, on one condition: for him to have the money and the ability to save the jobs of Vâlcea. The difference in financial and managerial resources is a bit too steep between Diaconescu and Gazprom".
The decision of the president of the OPSPI, Remus Vulpescu, concerning the postponement by three days of the deadline for the privatization of Oltchim led to three lawsuits filed by the president of the PP-DD, Dan Diaconescu. Dan Diaconescu challenged in court the decision of the General Meeting of the Shareholders of Oltchim concerning the receivable of the AVAS and has asked for the suspension and the annulment of the privatization procedure and of the privatization which would be concluded.
The head of the OPSPI also announced that there are companies which represent Gazprom which have requested a two-weeks postponement of the deadline for submitting privatization bids for Oltchim, to allow them to review the impact of the lawsuits filed over the last few days which concern the chemical plant.
Oltchim is clinically dead even without the "help" of PCC
• Zaremba, in an interview granted to BURSA on September 5th, 2012: "I wouldn't want to win and then be accused of having an advantage from the fact that we have been here for five-six years"
The domestic press has been full of rumors and seems to have been conducting a large scale attack against German company PCC.
In an interview granted exclusively to BURSA, in the beginning of this month, the representative of PCC in Romania, Mr. Wojciech Zaremba, expressed his concern that the privatization process would be contested, given the very brief delay available for reviewing the tender books: "If it's difficult for us, who have been involved in this process for years, for other potential investors it will be a disaster. It will be almost impossible to prepare their bids in such a short time".
Wojciech Zaremba said he was concerned about ending up taking the blame if the privatization of "Oltchim" goes badly: "I want a transparent, open process, and I want everybody to have equal chances, to have enough time to review the terms.
In the end, the very brief delay for submitting the bids will be a very good reason for contesting the entire privatization process.
For me, any solution works, as long as it is fair, I don't want to win the call for bids and then be accused that I had been favored in any way because I've already been here for five or six years.
This is our concern, that we have too little time to prepare the offering thoroughly and also, it is not good for the market, for competition, that we still don't know anything about the calls for bids for the two receivables (ed. note: at the time of the interview, the terms of the calls for bids of the receivables of Oltchim were not public). This is not normal. There is too little time, and it can harm the entire process.
At any rate, if this process fails, we will probably have to deal with insolvency. This could destroy Oltchim forever, because in the chemical industry, stopping production for a long time makes it very difficult to resume it".
Wojciech Zaremba also said in that interview that it makes no sense to buy Oltchim, to then shut it down. He said: "First of all, we will focus on saving the company. I think that this is the most important thing for us. We need to reorganize the company, secure working capital... We have to negotiate with the creditors, we need to draft the restructuring plan - for debts and production. It makes no sense to buy a company and to shut it down. I've been accused of that in the past. It would have been enough to wait for Oltchim to destroy itself. I can say that Oltchim exists because of PCC. For years on end, we have been saying that we are interested in the company, that we want to invest. It was information which was broadcasted publicly, which led other investors to have faith in the company. Furthermore, we have decided to buy stock, which caused its price to rise".
We don't know the "true" intentions of PCC, but we do know that Oltchim is currently bankrupt, and the accusation that Zaremba is looking to shut it down would be superfluous.
The reality is that Oltchim is clinically dead and that over 3,000 employees are waiting for a lifeline.
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