Privatization authority to sell RON600 mln-worth of state assets

The Romanian state hopes to obtain at least 600 million RON in privatization processes planned for 2007, the head of the Authority for State Assets Recovery-AVAS Teodor Athanasiu told HotNews.ro. AVAS prepares for the privatization of 62 companies where it holds the majority stake.

The Authority announced today that the process is due to be launched before October 1 for all 62 firms and to sell its takes in publicly traded companies by August 1.

AVAS holds shares in a total of 461 companies with a combined social capital of 4.5 billion RON, 600 million of which belongs to the Romanian state. Still, Atanasiu said 80% of the companies are not attractive for investors due to financial losses or old assets.

Meanwhile, the sale of the 8% stake the Romanian state still holds in oil company Petrom to Petrom employees will have to wait a bit more as the Justice Ministry and the Petrom trade union failed to reach a deal so far. The ministry wants shares be sold only to employees who worked at Petrom when the company was privatized, a move the union does not agree with.

And he said that so the state received four offers for the Daewoo factory it recovered after the demise of the Korean company. The offers were submitted by Ford Motors, General Motors, Tata Motors and the Chinese company Cherry.