Austrian steel group Voestalpine, which had been planning a €5.5 billion investment in the Black Sea region, freezing this due to the economic crisis, lost more than €10 million from land purchase pre-contracts in the southeastern area of Romania, sources close to negotiations told Business Standard. Voestalpine was still to choose between four countries - Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Turkey - for the location of its new steel plant in the region. As far as Romania is concerned, the company pre-contracted 80 percent of the land needed for the steel plant location in the town of Agigea, close to the Black Sea. It paid 5 percent of the land value to owners of plots. This decision had been made at the time because owners were hiking prices. The negotiated value of the plots was between €10 and €100 per square meter. According to the sale pre-contracts, the Austrian company would have priority for acquiring the land, while owners can keep the down payment if Voestalpine chooses another location for its investment. The Austrian group's spokesman, Peter Schiefer, told Business Standard that land owners were informed as early as last month that the pre-contracted land is not to be purchased. “We have assumed this loss," he added. The group was targeting some 600-700 hectares in the Agigea area, of which 170-200 hectares were to be leased from the state for 50 years. Last fall Voestalpine signed a memorandum with the Romanian authorities on the issue, after one year of negotiations.
