Austrians appoint Romanian female CEO at Petrom

Petrom, the largest company in Romania, which is now part of the portfolio of the Austrians at OMV, yesterday announced that Gheorghe Constantinescu would be stepping down as chief executive on June 15.

He will be replaced by Mariana Gheorghe, the representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to the board of directors of this company.

Mariana Gheorghe, 50, has been working for EBRD for 14 years and is a senior banker for SE Europe and Caucasus. She is experienced in international funding transactions, with a focus on those concerning the petroleum and gas sector.

She has been EBRD”s representative in Petrom”s board of directors since January 2005, and has worked closely with the company since its pre-privatisation stage. Back in 2002 Petrom took out a loan from EBRD, which was later swapped for equity. EBRD thus owns 2.02% in Petrom. “We thought of this change in the last two weeks, given that we got clear signals from Brussels that Romania will be joining the European Union on January 1, 2007. Many changes will occur in the months and years to come in terms of market deregulation, competition or products in the transitional period over the next one or two years,” Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, chairman of OMV and of Petrom”s board of directors told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.

Constantinescu was appointed chief executive of Petrom in February 2003 by the Economy and Trade Ministry, which had control of the company at that time, as the company had just started privatisation procedures. The Austrians at OMV kept Constantinescu after taking over Petrom in December 2004, who will become senior counsellor of the OMV chairman this summer, a position that will see him in charge of bringing the standards of the Romanian companies in line with the standards of the European Union.

The appointment of Mariana Gheorghe to the helm of Petrom is surprising, to a certain extent, as she does not represent OMV, which owns 51% in Petrom.

“I am in Bucharest every week. We have recently acquired Ofisi in Turkey and as much as I”d like to travel to Bucharest more often I cannot possibly make it. Gheorghe Constantinescu will be the liaison between Petrom”s board and OMV”s headquarters, but also between Bucharest and OMV/Petrom”s representative office in Brussels,” Ruttenstorfer said.

The OMV head says the replacement of Constantinescu does not mean a stage in Petrom”s development has been concluded, as the company will continue to apply its development strategy covering a period up to 2010 that was recently endorsed.

Mariana Gheorghe resigned from Petrom”s board of directors yesterday, where EBRD is to appoint another representative. At the same time, her being hired by Petrom will also entail quitting her position with EBRD, company sources say.