August 17 (SeeNews) - Insolvent Romanian chemicals producer Oltchim [BSE:OLT] said on Thursday that its production plants will undergo a general overhaul from August 20 until August 31.
"The production activity will be interrupted in order to carry out maintenance work specific to a general overhaul. These works are carried out, according to their specifics, both with specialized firms and with our own labour force," Oltchim said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
Sales will remain unaffected as the company stocks of finished products fully cover the contractual obligations for the maintenance period, Oltchim added.
In July, Romanian chemicals producer Chimcomplex Borzesti [BSE:CHOB] submitted an offer to take over the assets of Oltchim. Romanian Commercial Services Group (SCR Group), who owns Chimcomplex, will become the direct guarantor of the transaction with over 120 million euro ($135 million), supported by four business partners - two Romanian, one from Turkey and one from Italy.
The biggest competitor to Chimcomplex for Oltchim's assets is German-Polish PCC group, which currently owns 32.3% of Oltchim.
Chimcomplex was founded in 1954 as a state-owned chemicals producer and became a joint stock company in 1991. SCR became the main shareholder of Chimcomplex in 2003.
Chimcomplex shares last traded on August 11, when they changed hands 0.40% lower at 1.23 lei on the alternative segment of the BVB, AeRO.
Oltchim, which has been in insolvency since 2013, is the only producer of liquid caustic soda in Central Europe and the only producer of chlorine and polyether polyols in Romania. The company posted a 8.1 million euro gross profit in the six months through June, up 50% on the year, while turnover increased 27% on the year to 105.8 million euro.
In August 2016, the creditors of Oltchim agreed to extend the company's reorganisation period by one year. At the time, the company also launched the sale through auctions of all or part of its assets grouped into nine bundles. It hoped to find investors by the end of 2016 but the sale process stalled due to lack of interest.
However, in April 2017, the economy ministry (which is majority shareholder of Oltchim with a stake of 54.8%) and creditors decided once again to offer the company's assets for sale grouped in nine packages with a total market value of 294 million euro, with the starting price set at 307 million euro.
Oltchim has made several unsuccessful attempts to sell its assets in the past.
Throughout 2014, it failed two times to attract binding bids for the sale of Oltchim SPV, a special purpose vehicle that comprised its core business.
However, in 2013, it sold its PVC processing unit Romplast for 7.75 million euro to Romanian company Dynamic Selling Group.
Oltchim's shares traded flat at 0.3890 lei on the BVB at 1103 CET on Thursday.
($=0.9158 euro)