May 10 (SeeNews) - Romania's economy minister Varujan Vosganian said ten international investors have filed with the country's industrial privatisation office letters of intent to buy insolvent chemical producer Oltchim [BSE:OLT].
Major companies from India, Azerbaijan, Russia, Qatar, the UK, Germany and Israel have shown interest in Oltchim, the minister said on Thursday without quoting names.
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Vosganian added that the best scenario would be to sell both Oltchim and its refinery Arpechim to a single buyer. Oltchim acquired the Pitesti-based refinery from Romania's top oil and gas group OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP] in January 2010.
Romania holds a 54.8% interest in Oltchim and tried to sell it in October 2012. Local journalist and politician Dan Diaconescu won the auction for the stake, placing the highest bid, of 203.149 million lei ($60.44 million/46.07 million euro). However, the deal was cancelled as he had no financial resources to foot the bill.
(1 euro = 4.3255 Romanian lei)