SNTR buyer sends lawyer to sign

The Privatisation Authority (APAPS) and the representative of the Tobacco 2003 UE consortium comprising Galaxy Energy International Ltd (British Virgin Islands) and CTS SRL (Italy) on Wednesday signed the contract for the sale of 56% in Societatea Nationala Tutunul Romanesc SA (National Romanian Tobacco Company – SNTR). The consortium representatives did not attend the signing, though. The stated value of the deal is nearly 12 million euros, 5.5 million euros of which account for the commercial debts undertaken by the buyer, 1.6 million euros for the price paid for the stake, while the rest is made up of technology and environment protection investments and working capital. “Postponing the privatisation would have meant, as the surveys commissioned showed, a lot of problems for the national cigarette maker. The consultant was saying that only the factories in Bucharest and Ramnicu Sarat are worth something. We could not bring ourselves to act on those cold, unbiased recommendations. On the other hand, this privatisation has allowed us to secure jobs for the employees of SNTR for the next five years and also offer the 50,000 small farmers growing tobacco the possibility to sell their raw material,” APAPS chairman Ovidiu Musetescu said. ZF