Rompetrol group contracted an $85 million loan from a banking syndicate made up of HVB Bank, Bank Austria Creditanstalt and Banca Comerciala Romana (Romanian Commercial Bank-BCR).
At the same time, Rompetrol is close to separately signing a financing agreement worth $45 million with Banca Romana pentru Dezvoltare (Romanian Bank for Development-BRD), sources close to the company told Ziarul Financiar.
The money, particularly the $85 million coming from HVB, Bank Austria and BCR, will be used by the group to finance oil acquisitions for Petromidia, the main refinery of Rompetrol.
"The sum will be used for financing oil imports, which will ensure the most efficient use of Petromidia's production capacity and the better planning of oil acquisitions, with an immediate impact on the company's revenues," states the company.
The company that attracted the $85 million credit, over a period exceeding one year, is Rompetrol Rafinare, the group's refining unit, which consists of the activities of Petromidia and Vega (the group's second refinery).
The 45 million dollar-loan granted by BRD will be mainly used for investments aimed at modernisation, according to the above-quoted sources. The loan contract has been formally approved and awaits official signing over the coming days.
Over the last few years banking credits have been the main financing source for Rompetrol, the main crediting banks being Raiffeisen, HVB Bank, Bank Austria and Citibank.
The sums were particularly invested in the modernisation of Petromidia and for the increase of the working capital.
The finalising of these last two loan contracts comes during a difficult period for Rompetrol, with the group (especially Petromidia) having been over the last two weeks the subject of fierce debates between Dinu Patriciu and another Romanian businessman, Ovidiu Tender.
Patriciu accused Ovidiu Tender and Marian Iancu, whose firm secures the management of RAFO Onesti, of blackmail following his refusal to merge Petromidia with RAFO, a refinery that's going through a serious financial crisis.
Tender later replied saying Patriciu's statements were untrue and that he would sue the Rompetrol chairman.
The scandal had a negative impact on the evolution of Petromidia stock on the bourse. Over the last few weeks, Petromidia stock posted a severe drop, $84 million being lost from the company's capitalisation.
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro ; razvan.voican@zf.ro
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