“The president and the prime minister have agreed to postpone CFR Marfa’s privatization and Transgaz’s secondary offering, saying the timing is not right,” participants to a meeting between the two high-ranking officials told Mediafax.
They said Basescu and Ponta decided to wait until the government selects private managers for both CFR Marfa and Transgaz before continuing the privatization procedures.
Under a EUR3.5 billion loan agreement with the IMF, the Romanian government has pledged to sell shares in several key state-run companies, including Transgaz, CFR Marfa, natural gas producer Romgaz and nuclear power company Nuclearelectrica.
A secondary offering of 15% in Transgaz was initially scheduled for June this year, but the government has postponed it due to technical reasons. The offering prospectus has been sent to the securities commission and is being analyzed.
CFR Marfa was supposed to be auctioned by the end of October, according to Romania’s latest letter of intent to the IMF.
The government hired a consortium comprising US consultancy firm Deloitte, Musat&Asociatii and France’s Systra to advise on the sale.