Increase cancellation postponed at Oltchim

The General Meeting of Shareholders of the Oltchim Ramnicu Valcea chemical plant convened at the end of last week postponed making a decision on the cancellation of the capital increase performed at the end of 2003. The main shareholder of Oltchim, the state, abstained from voting. The capital increase in 2003 was done by swapping a 95 million dollar debt to the state for equity. The state at the time increased its stake from 53% to 95%, which annoyed the minority shareholders, who challenged the move in court. “We hope to have this increase issue addressed some time in November. The state agrees to the cancellation of the increase, but we need to find a legal solution. The debt was payable to the Banking Assets Resolution Agency and the shares derived from the increase are now held by the State Assets Resolution Authority. We cannot override a government decision by a decision of the general meeting,” stated Constantin Roibu, Oltchim”s manager. The conflict between the state and the minority shareholders is making the plant almost impossible to privatise. ZF