Due to debts and loans contracted in previous years, Elcen does not have access to other financing. “Clearly, the emission certificates are an effective way of financing. The condition is that they meet the parameters considered normal on the financial markets in the field,” said Matei Paun, Managing Partner of BAC Investment.
Radu Zaciu, Country Manager of Deutsche Bank, said that such an option could bring the company a less expensive loan than in other conditions. If Elcen’s loan is not approved, the company will have to choose between selling these rights or reducing the electricity and thermal energy production.
Electrocentrale Bucharest is not the only company for which “pollution rights” are a “gold mine.” “We posted the announcement and will wait until 26 November. We had no other option. We offer these certificates as collateral, and if we do not repay the loan by 28 February 2012, the bank can sell these rights,” Irina Duica, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, told Business Standard.
According to Duica, the company received 26 million CO2 emission certificates for 2008-2012, through Romania’s National Allocation Plan. “I have an excess of certificates, but I do not want to sell this, because I do not know how energy demand will evolve in the coming years, and I do not want to sell now to buy at a higher price in coming years,” the official indicated.
“CO2 emission certificates are certainly Romania’s most important financial potential. I, as a bank, would not take these certificates, because they do not have a predictable value. If they sold them, then we would be interested, because these certificates are easy money,” said Marinel Burduja, First Vice President of Raiffeisen Bank.
Termoelectrica, another state-owned energy producer, could make a similar decision today, to cover part of its investment needs. “I am waiting for approval from the Board of Directors. We need money for investments, but I do not yet know the course of action that will applied. We do not have CO2 certificate excess, as Elcen does,” Constantin Ioanitescu, Termoelectrica’s General Manager, told Business Standard yesterday.
“We have a certificate deficit, we cannot afford [to offer these as collateral], as Elcen can,” said Gheorghe Davitoiu, Head of Complexul Energetic Rovinari. “Guaranteeing is a desperate measure, which actually shows severe cash shortage. The RADET beneficiary is not paying its debts, the thermo energy plant must produce, it needs fuel, so it is pawning its future,” said analyst Jean Constantinescu.
One of the first plants that decided to sell “pollution rights” to obtain cash was CET Oradea. “This spring, we sold some 500,000 certificates, for RON 224 million [about €52 mln, at the current leu-euro exchange rate]. Now, we are looking for a certificate broker for a short-term loan, based on Elcen’s model. We want liquidity to get through the winter, considering that consumers begin paying as late as spring,” said Dragos Florian, Head of CET Oradea.
