Oltchim, offered for sale in pieces

Oltchim chemical plant from Ramnicu Valcea, insolvent since January 2013, is offered for sale in pieces, in nine asset packages and investor selection process will be completed later this year, according to a company announcement.

„Oltchim will launch a competition for selling the assets, in several packages and we take into account at the moment nine such packages,” reads the company’s announcement.

The interested investors can submit letters of interest for any or all the packages of assets, until 30 September 2016, writes News.ro.

„The selection of the buyer / buyers will be based on the economic value of the bid and the process is expected to be finalized by the end of 2016”, reads the document.

Referring to the announcement of launching the Oltchim sale process, Vice Prime Minister Costin Borc, who is also Minister of Economy, said that the company’s financial situation has improved, despite the fact that it is insolvent, which gives hopes of finding an investor „for future sustainable economic activities of the company”, under the market conditions.

„I put Oltchim among my priorities even since the beginning of my mandate. Today, the company announced the intention to sell the asset packages and I hope that Oltchim will have a binding offer by the end of the year”said Borc.

Maintaining the industrial activity in the area of Ramnicu Valcea and preserving jobs are a priority for authorities, assured the Vice Prime Minister.

„The Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Relations with the Business Environment supports the transparency of the sale process, continue to maintain an open dialogue with the European Commission for clarifying the old issues of Oltchim, which will provide legal certainty to the potential investor,” said Borc.

In early April this year, the European Commission announced that it has launched an in-depth investigation to check whether debt cancellation by the Romanian state and the continuation of supplying Oltchim by state companies, despite the worsening financial situation of the plant, complied with the EU state aid rules.

Oltchim Ramnicu Valcea reported a net profit of 18.5 million lei (4.1 million euros) in the first half of this year and sales of 378.1 million lei (84 million euros), up 4% against the same period of last year.

Oltchim registered total debts worth 1.35 billion lei on 30 June 2016. The plant has approximately 2,000 employees.

Oltchim is the only producer in Romania of chlorine and polyether polyols. The company exports around 70% of the production.

The company became insolvent in January 2013 after the privatization failed with Dan Diaconescu in 2012 and the reorganization plan provides for the company to me sold for at least 307 million euros.

The state, which owns 54.8% of the shares, has also previously tried to privatize Oltchim, but with no success. At the last deadline, in December 2014, no investor has expressed the interest to take over the company.