The solution to the conflict of interest between American trade company Marco International and French metallurgical group Pechiney regarding the privatisation of the Romanian aluminium industry is to be decided this week.
Both Pechiney representatives, who are expected this week in Bucharest, and the representatives of Marco International will try to persuade the Romanian authorities that they deserve the largest share in Alro.
The French from Pechiney will be supported by US financial group AIG and by the World Bank, while Marco representatives will rely on the support of the world's aluminium market leader, US company Alcoa.
The unknown in this equation might be Ruschii Aluminium, the world's second-largest aluminium maker. The Russians already own an alumina plant in Romania (Alor Oradea) and are competing with Marco for taking over the second one, BBG Alum.
"Ruschii has repeatedly stated their interest in Alro and Alprom, but they are not the favourites in this race for the time being, as they only wanted to take over the two companies' management," sources within the Privatisation Authority (APAPS) told Ziarul Financiar.
According to the latest information, Marco International succeeded to persuade Balli, the owner of BBG Alum, to grant it the pre-emption right for the acquisition of the Tulcea-based alumina plant by September 14. According to market sources, the transaction might stand at some 40 million dollars, part of which has already been paid in order to get the acquisition guarantee by the end of this week.
BBG is Alro's sole alumina supplier and, moreover, Marco already holds 43% in Alro, meaning that it can block Pechiney's decisions if the latter buys the 54.7% stake currently held by APAPS. The Americans have already managed to get the support of Alcoa, which will try to intercede with the World Bank in order to offset AIG's lobby for Pechiney.
"Alcoa supports us only at the image level for the time being. A financial agreement between us might be struck only after the privatisation. But the possibility that Alcoa should become a shareholder in Alro or Alprom is out of the question," Peter Braun, Marco International country manager for Romania, told Ziarul Financiar.
Pechiney representatives will try to get APAPS to guarantee Alprom's acquisition and that Alro will be its sole supplier. Furthermore, the French would like to have a say in the management team of the aluminium producer.
"Pechiney claims transparency, but they are not willing to acquire the main stake in Alro through an auction. The only amount they want to invest in Romania is the 50 million dollars with which they want to buy Alprom through successive share capital increases," APAPS sources commented.
Due to the declining international aluminium market, the price of one tonne of aluminium stands at some 1,300 dollars now, 300 dollars lower as compared to the previous year.
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