Bidders had until Monday at 12:00 local time (GMT0900) to submit offers at the Economy Ministry’s privatization office OPSPI.
At 11:59, Oltchim shares traded up 8.1%, at 0.7675 lei (EUR0.17) a share. Transactions with Oltchim shares amounted to RON121,000 before suspension.
Bids will be opened Tuesday, September 18, and an outcry auction will be organized on the same day.
Oltchim’s privatization has drawn interest from 16 investors, most of them foreign.
The company will be put up for sale as per an agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund under a EUR3.6 billion loan program.
Three weeks ago, Romania’s Government changed the privatization strategy for Oltchim to a combined sale of the state’s stake of 54.6% and the receivables held by privatization authority AVAS and Electrica SA, which amount to 1.8 billion lei (EUR400 million), or 56% of Oltchim’s debts. (EUR1=RON4.5042)