The first stage in the privatization of Romania's railways freight company CFR Marfa seems to have reached a halt, as the Transport Ministry rejected all three bidders that had submitted offers in the process. The American company OmniTRAX, local group Grup Feroviar Român and the association between Transferoviar Grup and Austrian investment fund Donau Finanz were all rejected in the pre-qualification stage, after checking their submitted documents. The privatization will be re-started.

“If CFR Marfa will not be privatized because of faults within the Ministry, I will leave the next day. I am doing my job, respecting deadlines and procedures. […] Each of the bidders was missing something. We will make all needed diligence for the new procedure. My wish is to stay within the final deadline (June 20 ),” said the Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu.

Representatives of Grup Feroviar Român said they will still pursue the CFR Marfa privatization, mentioning that as a company that has reached the final stages in similar privatizations in Hungary, Bulgaria and Montenegro, it has all the qualities to become a serious and responsible competitor for CFR Marfa. The company has a pre-qualification dossier of 330 pages. Transferoviar Grup also said they will sign up for the race again, once the procedure re-starts. Together with Donau Finanz, they had submitted a 1,100 – page file.

Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu previously said that even after selling 51 percent in CFR Marfa, the country would still be able to prevent the sale of the company's assets as scrap metal, and the restrictions in the task book will prevent intermediaries from signing up in the privatization race. The procedure will have three stages, pre-qualification, negotiation based on preliminary offers and the bid with closed offers.

A winner was to be announced mid-June, and this privatization is among the pledges Romania has made to its main financier the IMF.

CFR Marfa is the largest railway freight carrier in Romania, with a turnover of EUR 261 million in 2011 and a loss of EUR 22 million. Its debts of almost EUR 400 million to the state were to be wiped.

editor@romania-insider.com