The takeover of Astra Vagoane Arad is also a real estate business for Cristian Burci, which could bring the businessman a profit worth several million euros, sources close to the transaction told ZF.
In addition to the wagon factory, Burci also took over a plot of land in a central location of that city and an office building, as assets of the plant that are currently not used.
The plot has a surface area of about 10 hectares and is located right across the street from the railway station in Arad, on one of the city's main avenues. According to local real estate agencies, the price of a square metre of land in that part of the city, for such a big surface area, could even exceed 50 euros. A 20-hectare plot located in the same area was sold last year for some 5.5 million euros, according to information from a local real estate agency.
The office building has a total floor area of some 5,600 square metres and has recently been reconditioned.
The takeover of Astra and of the European division of the American group Trinity entails the payment of some 37 million euros by International Railway Services, a company controlled by Burci, to Trinity. Burci also took over the Wagon Research and Design Institute in Arad, Apromat Prahova, two plants in Slovakia and one in the Czech Republic, Switzerland and the UK each.
The Americans saw losses worth 100 million euros from the Astra deal, on which they spent 50 million dollars upon the purchase of the 70% stake in March 1999 and another 100 million dollars on investments and on increasing the stake to 97.9%.
By selling its European division, Trinity has withdrawn completely to North America, where it intends to continue to develop its operations. "Although the European wagon market has recently shown signs of revival in the last few months, we believe it is in the best interest of Trinity to allocate more resources and assets for the opportunities we have in North America," stated Timothy Wallace, Trinity's chairman.
Contacted by ZF, Cristian Burci said the deal was signed two days ago, with the closure to take place in no more than two weeks. "The freight transport market in Europe will change in the next few years, as the increase in the petroleum price will cause a large part of the commodities, which are currently transported by road and by water, to revert to shipment by rail," he says.
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