Petrom pumps $30m in gas stations

The consultant for SNP Petrom’s privatisation has submitted to the Office for State’s Interests and Industrial Privatisation (OPSPI) four options to privatise the company, all of which entail selling the controlling interests to a strategic investor, Doru Laurian Badulescu, OPSPI head said. “The consultant made a series of important recommendations we are now to study and also proposed to have certain provisions in Law 70/1998 modified. The provisions in question include the interdiction to affect the State’s position as majority shareholder, as well as the position of the employees that may buy up to 10% in Petrom for a price equal to the par value,” Badulescu explained. The Industry and Resources Ministry hired a consultant for Petrom’s privatisation in December 2002 – the consortium comprising investment banks Credit Suisse First Boston and ING Barings. Badulescu says the consultant’s report includes a four-chapter audit of the company. The judicial audit was conducted by the Linklaters & Miculitii law firm, the financial audit by Ernst & Young consulting firm, the environmental audit by URS (Netherlands), while the technical audit fell upon the US-based Jacobs Consultancy Group. ZF