Austrian oil group OMV, one of the ten candidates still in the race for Petrom says it has the necessary financial strength to buy the largest company on the Romanian market on its own.
At the moment, the acquisition of the 51% in Petrom is a $1-$1.4bn deal, analysts estimate. Inquired by Ziarul Financiar whether OMV has the necessary financial strength to take over Petrom by itself, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, OMV’s chairman and CEO confirmed,” IPIC (an Abu Dhabi-based oil investment fund and also one of OMV’s shareholders) has the necessary funds for it.” The shares of the OMV Group, the largest player in this industry in the Central and Eastern Europe, are held by the Austrian State 35%, IPIC – 19.6%, while more than 45% of them are free float and largely held by investors from Austria, UK and US.
OMV’s chairman declined comment on OMV’s participation in the privatisation of Petrom, that is saying whether the Austrians were to submit a bid on their own or look for partners to team up, feeling the institutions in charge of the privatisation were the only ones in the position to comment for the time being. The most motivated Petrom suitors are, as Ruttenstorfer says, the companies looking to expand in the region. “The regional companies are the most determined in this privatisation process.” The competitors in the race include very powerful companies such as ConocoPhilips, Occidental, Alon (US), ENI (Italy), Gazprom (Russia) or Glencore (Switzerland).
OMV, which holds 25.1% in private oil group Rompetrol, has set as its goal to come to account for 20% in the Danube basin by 2008. This regional goal, OMV’s head says, can be attained even without taking over Petrom.
“We can attain our goal even without acquiring Petrom. We already hold 25% in Rompetrol and have access to the Petromidia Refinery. We have good market shares in the countries wherein we operate, which will help us attain this goal,” Ruttenstorfer said.
Petrom’s privatisation is scheduled for completion in March 2004. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro