Japan-based Marubeni Corporation, one of the largest trade companies worldwide, has joined the race for the privatisation of locomotive maker Electroputere Craiova. Marubeni teamed up with the consortium comprised of General Electric and the Electroputere Employees Association (Elpas).
"We feel that, along with General Electric and Marubeni, we make a powerful consortium, capable of turning Electroputere into an efficient company," Petre Sabaila, Electroputere general manager and Elpas chairman, told Ziarul Financiar. The General Electric representatives in Romania could not be reached.
Electroputere is the second Romanian company in which Marubeni has shown interest so far. The Japanese trade company last fall was planning to participate in the privatisation of Romanian aluminium maker Alro Slatina, being one of the favourites due to its powerful metal trade division.
Marubeni has more than 646 branches worldwide, 5,344 employees and conducted trade operations worth 75.5 billion dollars last year, making 15 billion yen (120 million dollars) in net profit.
The Japanese company consists of 12 divisions, covering almost every field: ferrous and non-ferrous metals, electrical power, textile, chemical industry, agricultural products, financial services, IT etc.
One of the most important divisions deals in the trade of all sorts of industrial machinery and means of transportation, comprising 100 companies worldwide.
At present, talks are being held with three consortia over the sale of the 62.42 percent stake the Privatisation Authority holds in Electroputere. Apart from Elpas, the other bidders are Germany-based Siemens group and a consortium comprised of US-based General Motors and Germany-based Karsdorfer.
Electroputere is currently employing more than 5,000 people. The major international companies are eyeing Electroputere due to its potential for expansion abroad.
The Craiova-based company last year made 91 billion lei in profit, against 974.7 billion lei in turnover. Electroputere's debts at the time amounted to 394 billion lei, while the share capital reached 122.9 billion lei.
Electroputere's financial results in the first quarter, this year were not as good as last year, because the company incurred 945 billion lei in losses.
Electroputere shares (1,000 lei in face value) are traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, with 890 lei as the latest price. Early in the year, Electroputere was trading at 200-300 lei.
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