Thus, AdePlast has halted the project “for the time being”.
“We made this decision from two substantial reasons. Until the moment construction works were supposed to start we did not find an equipment producer we could totally trust. Political and economic instability in our country was the second reason,” said Barbut.
By getting the state aid, AdePlast was at its second attempt to find a funding source for the stone wool plant, after the company tried to get listed on the bourse last year, but the offer failed.
“A company has the right to give up state aid. There have been cases of companies renouncing this aid before, but not very many indeed,” said Enache Jiru, a secretary of state with the Finance Ministry.
Businessman Marcel Barbut is one of the few Romanian entrepreneurs who asked for state aid, though this is quite a common practice in the case of foreign investors.
AdePlast in 2013 opened four new plants on the industrial platforms it owns in Oradea, Ploiesti and Roman, in the wake of total investments worth EUR22 million, funded through loans. The company has 9 plants in the 3 localities.
AdePlast ended 2013 with revenue of 253 million lei (EUR57.3 million), up 37% on the year. In the first half of 2014, the company increased its revenue by 35%, to RON134 million (EUR30.5 million), while exports tripled.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)