ZF English

Dinu Patriciu may get more of Rompetrol

10.05.2001, 00:00 6



The stake held by Romanian businessman Dinu Patriciu in Holland Rompetrol Group (controlling Petromidia and Vega refineries) could go up if this oil company registers financial results exceeding the shareholders' expectations for 2000.

A complex contract concluded between the group's shareholders stipulates the possibility that Rompetrol share quotas might be changed. In case of good results, Romania & Moldova Direct Fund (RMDF), a significant shareholder in Rompetrol Group, can also modify its stake in the group.

Under such circumstances, Dinu Patriciu, holding 37% in Rompetrol through a privately managed fund called Danama Foundation, is quite likely to get a larger stake in the oil group.

"Rompetrol is a very dynamic company and we did not know exactly its real value when we invested in it. If results exceed some forecasts, our share quota in Rompetrol will decrease to 15%," Colin Hart, Chief Operating Officer with the company that manages RMDF, told Ziarul Financiar.

Rompetrol shareholding structure will be defined after the accounting balances for 2000 are audited. Provided Rompetrol results are very good, RMDF stake for the last year will drop to 15%, while Dinu Patriciu will get more of Rompetrol. Otherwise, RMDF share quota will maintain at 25%. In the case of intermediary results, RMDF share quota may range between 15% and 25%.

RMDF main investors are Archer Daniels Midland (an US company operating in the field of food industry), a division of the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and DEG, the investment agency of the German government.

The fund was established following the initiative of International Equity Partners, specialised in the US investment management. RMDF has a capital of 31 million dollars, of which 26 million dollars may be invested in Romania.

The third significant shareholder in Rompetrol is Tudori Foundation, with a 37% stake. Danama Foundation and Tudori Foundation are two privately managed investment funds, registered in Switzerland.

Rompetrol, which is registered in the Netherlands, holds a 78% stake in Vega refinery, 70% in the oil service company Petros Ploiesti and 84% in Palplast.

The group's exports exceeded the amount of 70 billion lei in 1999, while Vega turnover was more than 200 billion lei last year.

Rompetrol group last year took over a 69.9% stake in Petromidia from the former State Ownership Fund (SOF), paying 50 million dollars and pledging investments in equipment updating and petrochemical sector recovery worth 225 million dollars over the next five years. Rompetrol also took over 240 million dollars in debts.

Rompetrol will pay the shares in three instalments, of which the first, worth 17 million dollars, has already been paid. The other two instalments will be paid over the next two years.

SOF had required that Rompetrol should ensure a profitable margin in Petromidia operation, by supplying it with 2.75 million tonnes of crude every year, pushing turnover to 600 million dollars per year.

The crude oil to be processed at Petromidia will come from the Caspian Sea and Iraq, from where Rompetrol has already drilled 9 million barrels under the UN memorandum.