Rompetrol Rafinare (RRC) the company that owns the Petromidiarefinery now controlled by Kazakh KazMunaiGaz group has paid lessthan 10% of the 570 million-euro loan falling due at the end ofSeptember. The Finance Ministry might get shares in the company tosettle the rest of the debt, but the value of these shares isdwindling quarter by quarter because of losses.
The problem with the Rompetrol Rafinare bonds, a deal made byDinu Patriciu seven years ago, who went on to become a billionaireafter selling the entire Rompetrol group to the Kazakhs, couldspark the biggest lawsuit in Romania's corporate history; the mainissue now is the interpretation of the ordinance wherebyPetromidia's long-standing debts were converted into bonds made outto the state. The question is whether the Kazakhs have the right ornot to repurchase the bonds only in part. Rompetrol turned to thebiggest law firms on the market - }uc` Zb=rcea, Nestor (NNDKP) andMu[at for legal advice on the matter.
No information had been possible to obtain about the lawyersrepresenting the Romanian state in the case by the time the storywas ready for print.
The Government revealed at the beginning of the year it expectedto collect the 570 million euros from Rompetrol. Meanwhile, gettingthe money back has become uncertain and the state cut the salariesof the public sector employees and raised to the VAT to getcash.
Rompetrol Rafinare repurchased bonds worth 54 million euros onAugust 9, paying with a loan from its majority shareholder, asrevealed by the information provided ahead of the General Meetingof Shareholders scheduled for September 14.
The company should pay the remaining 516 million euros plusinterest for the past year, worth about 17 million euros by the endof September. The Kazakhs, however, say they do not have the moneyto pay the debt in full, because of the rising losses of thecompany year by year. They called the GM at Rompetrol Rafinare toapprove the conversion of the rest of the bonds into equity.
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