Things are getting more complicated by the day in the privatisation of Sidex steel mill. Only two weeks before the deadline for bid submitting, a group with a Russian-like name, TNK Kaz Chrome, has bought the task book, compulsory for participating in the privatisation process, hiring two foreign law firms.
TNK are the initials of the strong oil branch, Tyumen Oil, held by the influential Russian group Alfa. Market sources could not say whether TNK Kaz Chrome, which comes from Kazakhstan, belongs to Tyumen Oil.
Alfa group is one of the dominant names of the Russian economic and financial life, being run by two of the Russian oligarchs, Mikhail Fridman and Piotr Aven.
The company also benefits from the political patronage of former Russian Prime Minister Anatoli Tchubais, deemed as the eminence grise of Boris Yeltsin's mandate.
This is the second time in a very short interval when the name of Alfa emerges in the Romanian steel-metal reality, after its London-based brokerage arm, Alfa Securities, admitted its involvement in the transactions operated with 8% of aluminium producer Alro Slatina shares.
Sidex manager Dan aoiman ignores who is behind TNK Kaz Chrome. "I know nothing about the new participant in our privatisation and I have not been contacted by their representatives.
Anyway, I think the moment when the task book was acquired is too close to the date when the bids are opened. I do not believe they will have the time to analyse Sidex. On the other hand, they might already know enough," Dan aoiman told Ziarul Financiar.
On the other hand, market sources say TNK may attend Sidex privatisation as part of a consortium comprised of European companies.
Sidex task book has been bought so far, beside TNK Kaz Chrome, by British-Indian group Ispat International, by an Anglo-French-German-Turkish consortium run by the French from Usinor and by four Romanian companies - Metanef, Metalexportimport, Grivco and Metaltrade - reunited in a single group.
The government commission for Sidex privatisation, which met on Saturday at the Privatisation Authority headquarters, set the last details regarding the completion of the steel mill's presentation file, which will constitute the basis for the privatisation offer.
Special attention shall be granted to social and environment clauses. The next meeting of the government commission is scheduled for April 5, when the final bids are opened, as they must be submitted by April 4.
A government delegation is leaving today for Kazakhstan in order to visit Ispat Karmet steel mill, which was privatised in 1995 and bought by businessman Lakshami Mittal. Holding an 80% stake, Mittal is Ispat International main shareholder, while Ispat Karmet is one of the world's biggest steel mills.
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