In June, the Romanian Transport Ministry rejected OmniTRAX’s documents to participate in the sale of CFR Marfa. The U.S. company contested the privatization procedure and asked for the process to be resumed. The request was filed with the Bucharest Court, the Finance and Transport ministries and settlement body CNSC.
On June 6, the Romanian Transport Ministry said only two bidders remained in the race for the planned sale of a 51% stake in the freight railway operator, namely Romanian private freight railway carrier Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR) and a consortium of Transferoviar Grup and Donau-Finanz GmbH & Co KG Austria.
According to the ministry, the documents submitted by the third bidder, OmniTRAX, were incomplete as they did not include a preliminary non-binding bid.
Transferoviar Grup and Austrian Donau-Finanz GmbH & Co KG Austria said on June 19 it was pulling out of the privatization process of CFR Marfa and also planned to contest the procedure.
Grup Feroviar Roman won the auction and will pay EUR202 million for a 51% stake in the railway carrier.