AVAS to launch Craiova complex privatization before general elections

Atanasiu told Business Standard that another state-owned energy producer, Termoelectrica, will become a CE Craiova shareholder, with a 1-2 percent stock. AVAS currently owns 72.88 percent of the energy complex.

“Our consultant came up with the privatization strategy, with two stages, one in which investors will be pre-selected and a second one, when improved final offers are to be negotiated,” Atanasiu said.

Investors will be selected based on their business plan, investment program and offer made for the share package. The consultant for CE Craiova privatization is a consortium made up by advisory company Deloitte and investment fund Romanian-American Enterprise Fund (RAEF).

According to Atanasiu, the energy complex needs an investment program worth several hundred million euros. “The way it looks today, with old capacities, low yields and necessary environment investments that were not launched, the company would exit the market in two to three years,” he said.

CE Craiova estimates some €3 million worth of net earnings, compared to €2.4 million last year. The complex is Romania’s sixth-largest electricity producer, with 7 percent of the total consumption countrywide supplied in H1.