The two bidders are Romanian private freight railway carrier Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR) and a consortium of Transferoviar Grup and Donau-Finanz GmbH & Co KG Austria.
The ministry said the documents submitted by the third bidder, US company OmniTRAX, were incomplete as they did not include a preliminary non-binding bid, as required in the second phase of the privatization process- negotiation based on preliminary non-binding offers.
To participate in the last phase of the privatization process, the sealed-bid auction, bidders must submit final and binding bids until June 19.
The ministry is expected to announce a winner on June 20.
The auction price for CFR Marfa starts at 798.05 million lei (a little over EUR180 million).
CFR Marfa has a share capital of RON312.34 million. The company is 100%-owned by the transport ministry.
CFR Marfa’s privatization is prerequisite for the successful completion of a EUR3.6 billion loan agreement Romania and the International Monetary Fund have signed in the spring of 2011.