The third time that the BSE acts strangely when it comes to "Oltchim"

The Bucharest Stock Exchange acted strangely for the third time when it comes to Oltchim, in the last two months. Yesterday at noon, the Ministry of the Economy announced in a press release, that four potential investors (Pegamont Ploieşti of Romania, PCC SE of Germany, AISA Invest of Romania and JSC TISE of Russia) have submitted preliminary non-binding bids in the process for the privatization of the company of Vâlcea. Except the BSE did not halt the trading of the shares of Oltchim yesterday, nor did it disseminate the information to its shareholders.

BURSA has already reported about the strange behavior of the BSE in the case of Oltchim, in March.

On March 7th, the BSE did not deign to suspend the trading in the shares of Oltchim, when the information that the European Commission had approved the conversion into stock in favor of the AVAS of the 135 million Euros which Oltchim owed to the Romanian state was made public.

With a two-day delay, on March 9th, after the BURSA newspaper had reported on this situation, the BSE suspended trading in the stock of Oltchim, to check the news about the conversion of the debt into stock. Meanwhile, the investors had found out about the approval of the Commission from our newspaper and from other sources.

Also, on March 15th, when the announcement concerning the privatization of "Oltchim" was made public, trading in OLT was not stopped, and the BSE did not issue a communiqué on that subject.

In yesterday's press release, the Ministry of the Economy stated that the process for the submission of the preliminary, non-binding tenders for the privatization of Oltchim ended on April 17th, 2012, held by the Office of State Interests and Industrial Privatization (OPSPI), for the sale of at least 188,100,976 shares, representing 54.8062% of the share capital of the plant.

The privatization method uses two methods: negotiation based on preliminary and non-binding offerings, followed by an auction with sealed bids. The officials of the ministry have also said that based on the talks and the negotiation of the preliminary and non-binding offers filed by the four potential investors, the Presentation Brief will be completed in order to hold the sealed bid auction.

• Russians, Germans and Romanians, in the race for the privatization of Oltchim

TISE is a Russian electricity producer with a majority state tar de stat. Created in Moscow in 2003, the company has the following shareholders, according to its website: Tehnopromexport, Zarubejneft and Zarubejneftegaz (a subsidiary of Gazprom). Nikolai Tokarev, the president of the Board of Directors of TISE, was the head of Transneft, Russia's national oil transport operator.

AISA Invest of Cluj is part of the SCR group (Serviciile Comerciale Române = Romanian Commercial Services), controlled by businessman Ştefan Vuza. The company has 32 employees and manages the entire SCR group, which currently owns Chimcomplex Borzeşti, Someş Dej, Uzuc Ploieşti, Nova Textile Bumbac Piteşti, Sinterom Cluj-Napoca, Caromet Caransebeş, Contactoare Buzău, Inav Bucureşti and Iaşitex Iaşi.

Pegamont is a construction-assembly company, in which Mircea Apostolescu, who also serves as its administrator, holds a 70% stake. The company of Ploieşti has performed pipeline assembly works for Transgaz and services for Conpet, Petromservice and Rominserv.

German company PCC SE currently owns 18.31% of the shares of Oltchim. The minority shareholders of the plant also include investment fund Carlson Ventures, registered in Great Britain, through Nachbar Services (14.02%), individuals (11%) and companies (1.8%).

As part of the privatization process, in the coming two weeks, the tender book will be drafted. The document will also include the starting price of the bid.