Privatization Committee of Automobile Craiova (Daewoo Automobiles) starts and giant car producer Ford begin on Monday the official privatization negotiations, after the final bid was validated on Friday. Ford is the only company to make an offer for the Romanian factory.

Both the financial and technical offers will be open on Monday in the presence of Ford officials.

Sebastian Vladescu, the president of the Committee, declared that the transaction could be colsed by the end of August, Ford taking over 72.4% of the company shares.

Previously, non-binding offers were submitted by General Motors Corporation, Ford Motors Company and Russian Machines, part of the Russian group Basic Elements owned by Russian mogul Oleg Deripaska.

The Romanian state has been holding the majority stake in the plant since 2004 and planned to sell it by the end of June 2007.

The transaction was evaluated at 60 million USD, 50 million of which cover the majority stake and the other 10 cover the company’s debts to firms in the Daewoo group.

Update
The Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS) postponed the negotiations with Ford, motivating that the American company needs to fill up more papers, a press release informed on Monday.

HotNews.ro, Jul 9, 2007

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