$4m for $60m business

The consortium comprising Marco Acquisitions, Marco International and Conef Bucharest took over the controlling interests in Alprom Slatina, with the total transaction amounting to some $14 million. Marco paid a little more than $4 million for the 69.9% stake held by the Privatisation Authority in the Slatina-based company and pledged to invest some $10 million in order to retool the company and bring it in line with the European environmental standards. The consortium is already controlling Alro Slatina, a company supplying Alprom with the raw material (raw aluminium). “Marco got a good deal on Alro and Alprom, since it bought them at a time of recession on the international aluminium market. There is a certain risk involved, though, as things could get better in a year or two, but also in three to five years,” Privatisation minister Ovidiu Musetescu said. Alprom’s nine-month financial results show the slump registered by the international aluminium industry: 19.5bn ROL net profit, compared with 43.1bn ROL in the same time last year, and nine-month revenues worth 1,152bn ROL, compared with 1,857bn ROL ($60 million) in 2001. ZF