UPDATE: Negotiations were successful between the state and the last bidder in the privatization of CFR Marfa, Grup Feroviar Roman, GFR, which pledged to pay EUR 202 million. Negotiation took around seven hours for the 51 percent stake in CFR Marfa, and the winner also promised to make some EUR 204 million further investments in the company.

The Romanian company Grup Feroviar Roman has asked for a series of conditions in the privatization of CFR Marfa railway freight transport company, and if the company does not give up, the negotiation could end, said the Romanian Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu. GFR is the only bidder still in the race, after Transferoviar Grup - Donau Finanz was the last to withdraw on Wednesday, while the American OmniTRAX withdrew earlier in the process.

“The company's technical offer was correct and GFR qualified. The financial offer contains a few conditions, and we are under negotiation. If we finalize the negotiation so as the financial offer does not have any conditions, we will finalize the procedure. If not the last bidder standing will be disqualified,” said the Transport Minister.

He said the amount offered by GFR was higher than the starting point of EUR 180 million, which was the minimum for 51 percent in the company.

GFR, part of the Grampet group, recently accessed a EUR 54 million credit line from Eximbank, which will be used for the investments in the Bulgarian and Croatian privatizations.

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. GFR is CFR Marfa's main competitor in Romania and the two companies together control 70 percent of the railway freight market in Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com