Romania’s largest company, oil group Petrom, part of Austrian OMV group, has ongoing discussions with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) for loans totaling some €500 million, according to sources close to the talks for Business Standard. Petrom already has two credit lines, one from OMV, worth up to €500 mln and a second one worth €375 mln, from five international banks. Company officials declined to comment on the information, but said that they are discussing with several banks to finance its “ambitious investment program for this year.” Petrom has investments amounting to an average €1.5 billion per year by 2012. It has and annual cash flow worth some €700 mln, so most of the investments will be financed through loans from bank or from OMV. According to data published on the EIB website, the lender last week granted a loan worth €250 million to finance the construction of Petrobrazi electricity plant, belonging to Petrom. The total cost of the 860 MW plant is estimated at €500 mln. Once the project is finalized, Petrom would become one of the top electricity producers locally. The sources told Busines Standard that the oil company is also discussing a loan worth €200-400 million from EBRD, also to finance investments. An EBRD delegation was at Petrom’s headquarters last week to discuss the issue. However, the Bucharest office of the European bank declined to comment on the information. They said that EBRD representatives have “continuous meetings” with Petrom officials due to the participation of the financial institution in the Romanian company. In less than four years, the company invested a total €3.56 billion. Petrom is the largest company listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), with capitalization worth RON 9.34 bln (€2.2 bln).
