Ford offers EUR 57m for majority stake in Romania’s Automobile Craiova

This is the U.S. carmaker’s final and improved offer, after an initial 55 million euros for a 72.4 percent stake the Romanian state holds in Automobile Craiova. The final financial offer shows Ford and the institution in charge of privatization, the Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS), agreed to transfer the assets existing in Automobile Craiova, Daewoo Automobile and Mecatim Craiova into a newly created factory.

Vladescu noted further negotiations with Ford will continue and the contract should be closed next week. Automobile Craiova said its net profit in the first six months of the year rose to 1.47 million lei on growing revenues after last year’s loss. The company’s revenues rose 75.5 percent to 4.96 million lei, compared to 2.82 million lei in 2006. Last year, Automobile Craiova reported a 84,000 lei loss for the first half of the year.

The company’s net profit last year stood at 174,000 lei and its revenues accounted for 5.66 million lei. Automobile Craiova is listed on the over-the-counter market Rasdaq, under the symbol AUCS.