“We have taken note of the fact that the potential investors did not pre-qualify for the bidding process for the majority privatization of CFR Marfa. We are discussing with the authorities on the best way forward,” said Tonny Lybek, IMF’s Resident Representative in Romania and Bulgaria.
Two companies and one consortium filed papers to prequalify for the auction, namely U.S. company OmniTRAX, Romanian private freight railway carrier Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR) and a consortium of Transferoviar Grup (TFG) and Donau-Finanz GmbH & Co KG Austria.
The Transport Ministry said Wednesday its privatization committee rejected the three potential investors after analyzing their papers, which were incomplete, and prequalification procedures would be resumed.
Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Wednesday the prequalification procedure would be resumed in a week, after the ministry changed the taskbook to state less restrictive participation conditions.
The Transport Ministry will auction off 51% of CFR Marfa in June and the starting price is 798.05 million lei (EUR180 million).
The procedure includes three phases: prequalification, negotiation based on preliminary non-binding offers and sealed-bid auction.