Romanian tobacco to be smoked in court

The privatisation of the Romanian National Tobacco Company (SNTR) is likely to be resumed this summer if Romanian legal instances are to accept the demand of Leaf Tobacco A. Michailidis (LTAM) on the annulment of the sale-purchase contract concluded between InterAgro and SNTR.

At the end of last week, Bucharest Court of Appeals (CAB) suspended the report on the designation of InterAgro as winner of the tender for the sale of SNTR and is to decide on Friday on the application for the annulment of the sale-purchase contract.

“The application has been filed in because we consider that there was a law infringement within the report on the privatisation of SNTR,” Antonelidis Spiridon, LTAM representative, told Ziarul Financiar. “In case an irrevocable decision is pronounced on the annulment of the contract, SNTR privatisation process may be resumed,” he also said, adding that the new offer of LTAM will be settled at the respective moment.

In this case, the Romanian state must pay back the first tranche of 10 million dollars InterAgro paid in exchange for the stake in SNTR.

“The one who stands to lose in this case is the Romanian state which finds it impossible to cash in the money for SNTR,” explained a jurist who wished to remain anonymous. Practically, at this moment, the payment of the rest of the money, as well as InterAgro’s pledge linked to investment pouring, may be blocked.

InterAgro will be able to claim that it cannot pay in due time the sums it owns to the Romanian state, until the case is solved in court. As a result, the term of 90 days settled within the contract for the payment of the rest of 30 million dollars can be exceeded.

“In line with legal stipulations, we do not think there is a legal basis for the suspension of privatisation, and for this reason we can estimate there are big chances for the process to be finalised within the next two months by a ruling against LTAM,” the above-quoted jurists also maintain.

Leaf Tobacco A Michailidis contested with the Court of Appeals the result of the tender for the privatisation of Romanian National Tobacco Company, saying it had not received the fiscal certificate during negotiations.

Agriculture and Food minister Ioan Avram Muresan stated on May 10, when the winner of the tender was announced, that InterAgro had offered the best price, the best guarantees for investments and the best assurances for the continuation of the company’s activity, with a transaction value of 130 million dollars, of which 40 million dollars represent the price paid for the company’s stock.