Romanian business news DECEMBER 2011 - 19.12.2011
The EIB will lend 500 billion Euros to Romania,
For Projects Of METROREX and ELECTROCENTRALE PAROŞENI
On Friday, the Romanian authorities signed loan agreements with the
European Investment Bank (BEI). The loan is taken on at an interest rate
of less than 4%, for the co-financing of the Universitate-Pantelimon
subway segment and for environmental investments in Electrocentrale
Paroşeni.
The largest part of the amount - 465 million Euros - is
intended to finance the aforementioned subway segment. The loan
agreement has a 25-year maturity and a grace period of six years.
There are currently ongoing works on the Drumul Taberei-Opera
House segment. The Universitate-Pantelimon segment has a length of
approximately 8 kilometers and an estimated number of 12 stations, and
the preliminary works will begin in the first half of 2012.
The remaining 32.65 million Euros - which represent a separate
loan - will be used by \\\"Electrocentrale\\\" Paroşeni, to complete several
environmental investment projects. The projects concern the replacement
of the current collection, shipping and storage of the cinders and ash,
as well as the construction of an installation for the desulphurization
of the exhaust gas\\\". The loan has a 15-year maturity with a grace period
of four years.
According to the representatives of the Ministry of the
Economy, Trade and Business Environment (MECMA), the project will have
an important positive macroeconomic impact, by ensuring the continuity
of the functioning of the plant and, respectively, the needed
electricity and thermal energy for 200,000 inhabitants of the Valea
Jiului area. The project will also help preserve the jobs in the energy
production units in the area, and about 300 temporary jobs would be
generated during the implementation of the project. The project is
expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
In the case of energy holding,
\"HIDROELECTRICA\" will keep the situation of force majeure
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania had suspended the Approval of Force Majeure granted to \"Hidroelectrica\".
\"Hidroelectrica\" will keep the provisions concerning the force
majeure situation in the contract concluded with \"Energy Holding\\\",
according to the ruling rendered on Thursday by the Court of Appeal of
Bucharest.
According to a press release of the company, the court has
decided to suspend the execution of the Resolution issued by the
Managing Office of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR), by which
the Force Majeure Approval granted to \"Hidroelectrica\" for the contract
concluded with \"Energy Holding\" was revoked, as it considered that the
decision in question \"shows serious signs of illegality\".
\"This document revoking the approval, was abusively issued at
the request of the lawyers of < Energy Holding > by the Chamber
of Commerce, which claimed that the approval of the force majeure of
September 2011 had not been signed by the chairman of the CCIR\", \"Hidroelectrica\" officials say.
Supported by \"Hidrosind\"- the union organization of the
employees of \"Hidroelectrica\", the company requested that the Court of
Appeal issue a ruling to suspend the Resolution, which would have caused \"Hidroelectrica\" to be required to deliver to \"Energy Holding\" all the
amount of energy provided in the contract, including for the two months
of when the license of force majeure has produced its effects.
The important losses which the decision of the CCIR to suspend
the case of force majeure can cause to \"Hidroelectrica\" and to the
national energy grid was one of the reasons why the Court revoked this
decision.
According to the press release, \"Energy Holding\" also
intervened in defense of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
but the Court of Appeal rejected the intervention of this company,
deeming it unfounded.
The ruling of the court issued at the end of last week will
remain in effect until the first hearing of the litigation between the
electricity maker and the CCIR, with the latter being taken to court by \"Hidroelectrica\" in order to have it suspend the case of force majeure.
Similar approvals, which certified the existence of this
situation, were given for all the contracts to supply electricity
conducted by the company, meaning that \"Hidroelectrica\" only provided
all of the beneficiaries of the contracts with electricity generated in
its own hydroelectric plants.
Iulian Iancu, the chairman of the Committee for Industry and
Services of the Chamber of Deputies, repeatedly said that the suspension
of the approval which instituted the situation of force majeure at \"Hidroelectrica\" represents \"a handicap for the company\". He said that \"Hidroelectrica\" would be forced to replace energy generated at a low
cost with energy produced using gas and coal, which is two or three
times as expensive, and export it cheaply, which will cause the Romanian
state to lose money.
Constantin Trihenea, the former general manager of \"Hidroelectrica\" recently said: \"The Board of Directors decided, through
a vote, to file a criminal complaint against those who voted without
reviewing the situation. Everybody knows that there is a drought, that
hydroelectric energy requires water to be generated, and the fact that
the one who cancelled the document says he doesn\'t care shows that he
actually wants something completely different (...) I have also notified
< Energy Holding > that the elimination of the force majeure
situation can not be implemented and that we will continue to apply it
just like we have announced at the end of September, arithmetically, for
each of the parties we have contracts with\".
Constantin Trihenea emphasized that in October, the company
made the best efforts to limit its losses, by substantially reducing
certain costs: \"In November, our balance sheet will reach breakeven, and
for the end of the year we estimate seeing a profit, less than what it
used to be, but under no circumstances will < Hidroelectrica >
end this year with a loss\".
The former general manager of the company said that it will
output about 15 TWh of energy this year, compared to the over 19 TWh it
generated in 2010.
Historic Decision For The Capital Market:
A Christmas present for investors: a 5% holding limit in the SIFs
The BET-FI index rises 10.06%
A burning wish of investors - the raising of the maximum holding limit
in the SIFs - was fulfilled yesterday, after a wait of approximately two
years.
Yesterday morning, the deputies discussed the project to raise
the holding limit in the SIFs from 1% to 5%, which caused the Bucharest
Stock Exchange to suspend trading in the shares of the SIFs in the
beginning of the session. A little before 11 o\\\'clock, the Chamber of
Deputies began the vote, and the draft bill was passed with 170 votes in
favor and 63 against.
The shares of the five financial investment companies resumed
trading (ed. note: at 11:35), and their prices quickly rose by up to
15%, and the BSE raised the upper fluctuation limit to 25%. By the end
of the session, the rises began to wane; the BET-FI index which tracks
the evolution of the SIFs and of the Proprietatea Fund ended the day at
19,943 points, up 10.06% over Wednesday\\\'s price.
Several investors claimed that the raising of the holding limit
in the SIFs represents one of the solutions for the development of the
stock market.
Triglav Carpati business club
« inapoi la Stiri
