The company will reduce its network by the end of April, says the Government’s letter of intent to the IMF. Posta Romana will then have fewer than 5,700 units, from 5,835 at the start of the year, and from 7,100 in early 2011.
The Government has until June to find a strategic investor interested in buying a stake of at least 20% in Posta Romana, after a capital raise. The deadline has been pushed back by two months.
With EUR29 million in losses in 2010, Posta Romana is controlled by the Ministry of Communications (75%) and Fondul Proprietatea.
According to a government document presented by MEDIAFAX mid-October, following a share capital hike, the state might reduce its stake in Posta Romana to about 51% and will look for an investor to take over at least 20% of the stock. Fondul Proprietatea’s stake might fall to 15% unless the fund participates in increasing the company’s share capital, reads the document. The document also says the investor will be allowed to appoint a team that will ensure the management of the company for at least ten years.
Then-Communications Minister Valerian Vreme said the national postal operators in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Sweden have expressed interest in buying Posta Romana stock.
Last year, Posta Romana’s management said any layoffs would be decided through an evaluation, while Dumitru Costin, head of union center BNS, warned that more than three thousand unionists would protest any downsizing.
The first stage of the company’s reorganization, implemented last year, did not entail any layoffs, according to the management.
Posta Romana has around 35,000 employees.