The request was filed with the Bucharest Court, the Finance and Transport ministries and settlement body CNSC.
OmniTRAX said in a press release Monday it is still interested in CFR Marfa and wants to be allowed to rejoin the race.
OmniTRAX says it needs more time to audit CFR Marfa to be able to offer the best solution to help the railway carrier.
The privatization calendar did not give investors the chance to file reasoned offers, as bidders had only a week to audit over 10,000 documents, OmniTRAX said, adding that it didn’t have access to all CFR Marfa’s documents, including balance sheets.
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.
In its latest letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund, Romania pledges to select a buyer for CFR Marfa on June 21, while highlighting that the completion of the transaction depends on meeting all requirements included in the privatization contract.
The auction price for CFR Marfa starts at 798.05 million lei (a little over EUR180 million).
Romania and the IMF have signed a two-year EUR3.6 billion loan agreement in 2011, successor to a larger EUR13 billion deal secured in 2009. The program was initially due for completion in April this year, but the government has requested a three-month extension to meet the IMF requirements. The IMF Board is expected to review Romania’s performance under the stand-by agreement at the end of June.
The elimination of government arrears, a target for which Romania has repeatedly asked and obtained a waiver of non-observance, alongside the privatization of CFR Marfa are prerequisites for the successful completion of the IMF program.