Energy Holding, one of the most important energy traders in Romania, has filed for insolvency.

The company asked for protection against creditors after having lost a lawsuit against the power producer Hidroelectrica in January, reports local Profit.ro.

Energy Holding asked Hidroelectrica for EUR 250 million damages after the power producer canceled its contracts with energy traders in 2012, after going into insolvency. Several other traders went to court against the company but lost. The traders had very good contracts with the state-owned power producer, which allowed them to buy electricity at below market prices and make huge profits from selling it.

In 2008, Energy Holding had a net profit of EUR 24.4 million at a turnover of EUR 226 million, according to official data. Meanwhile, the contracts were damaging for Hidroelectrica, forcing the company into insolvency. After cancelling those contracts, Hidroelectrica became the most profitable state company while Energy Holding’s business fell sharply. The trader’s sales went down from EUR 170 million in 2011 to EUR 43 million in 2015.

Energy Holding was founded in 2000 by Romanian investor Bogdan Buzaianu, who also has Swiss citizenship. In 2006, the company was taken over by the Swiss firm Societe Bancaire Privee (SBP). In 2009, the Holland-based firm BV Marken Investment & Trading MIT became the majority stakeholder in the company.

Energy Holding came to the public attention in 2007, when former President Traian Basescu accused the former Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu of supporting the business of “smart guy” Bogdan Buzaianu. Basescu thus coined the nickname “smart guys”, which was then used to describe all energy traders that had direct contracts with Hidroelectrica.

editor@romania-insider.com