Romania

Romanian state-owned power producer Hidroelectrica will hopefully exit insolvency next year, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said on Wednesday, adding that the government aims to list an airport and Constanta port to strengthen the bourse. Last week Reuters reported that Hidroelectrica would not exit a court-administered insolvency process this year, as initially expected, due to lengthy legal challenges. The EU state's largest and cheapest power producer was pushed back into insolvency for the second time in early 2014, and is being run by a court-appointed manager.

Romanian state-owned electricity producer Hidroelectrica will not exit the insolvency process this year, as initially expected, due to lengthy court actions, the company’s legal administrator said in an interview with Reuters. Hidroelectrica has managed to reorganize its activity in the last three years and posted record profits in 2014 and the first quarter of 2015, but still has to solve its problems in court. “The court challenges are advancing very slowly,” said manager Remus Borza. He added the company still had 19 ongoing trials out of an initial 75.

Ten Airways (X5, Bucharest Baneasa) has filed for insolvency protection with a Bucharest court which, if granted on March 5, will allow the airline to restructure and resume operations. The carrier recently had its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) reinstated by the Romanian civil aviation authority (Autoritatea Aeronautică Civilă Română - AACR) roughly a month after it was initially revoked, the carrier's managing director Dumitru Pupescu has confirmed to ch-aviation. The Mediafax news agency reports the airline's largest creditors are its employees who are still owed outstanding wages.

Local retailer Succes, owned by the businessman Nicolae Sarcina, recently filed for insolvency, Romania-Insider.com reported. The company which posted a EUR 350 million turnover in 2013 and has 1,600 employees, will receive the court decision on its insolvency request on January 27, reports local Ziarul Financiar. Profi and Mega Image, two of the largest supermarket chains in Romania, are interested in taking over Succes stores.

Romania’s largest chemical producer Oltchim, majority owned by the state, will most likely exit insolvency this year. Its judicial administrators, RomInsolv and BDO Business Restructuring, will present the company’s restructuring plan in February, with hopes to have it approved by March, according to Mediafax newswire, Romania-Insider.com reported. Economy Minister Mihai Tudose met the judicial administrators, as well as representatives of the Oltchim employees union, on Tuesday, January 6. “The option to move to bankruptcy is excluded.

Mediafax Group, owned by media mogul Adrian Sarbu, has officially entered insolvency, according to the ruling of The Bucharest Court, after submitting an official request, Business Review reported. The Bucharest Court has nominated KPMG Restructuring as temporary legal administrator, with a fee of RON 5,000, according to paginademedia.ro. Mediafax Group requested its own insolvency on November 27. The company is being investigated under accusations of tax evasion and money laundry. Mediafax Group.

There were around 28,000 new insolvency procedures in Romania last year, and this year this figure could reach or even exceed 30,000, said Valentina Burdescu, director of the Bulletin of Insolvency Procedures (BPI), during the second National Insolvency Conference, Balkans.com reported. She said that companies in the services, commerce, constructions, HORECA (hotels, restaurants, cafees) and transport sectors are prone to go into insolvency, a situation that has remained rather unchanged in the last years. “Most of the procedures are simplified and (e.n.

FlyRomania (X5, Bucharest Otopeni) has filed for insolvency with a Bucharest court. A filing seen by ch-aviation has now called for all creditors to lodge claims with the airline's interim trustee, Dinu Urse Associates, with the deadline for submissions set for October 30. Doubts about the Ten Airways (X5, Bucharest Baneasa) subsidiary's long-term viability first surfaced in June when poor load-factors forced it to dramatically scale down its flights, just one month after it launched operations.

The Bucharest court has recently approved the insolvency request for Romanian construction company Tehnologica Radion, whose owner, Theodor Berna, is currently under preventive arrest for tax evasion and money laundry, Romania-Insider.com reported. The company had a turnover of EUR 80.7 million in 2013, and a net profit of EUR 876,000. However, it amassed some EUR 86 million in debts, while its due receivables were of EUR 57 million. Prosecutors recently froze Tehnologica Radion’s accounts and goods, as the company is also part of the trial which involves its owner.

Tehnologica Radion, one of the largest local construction companies in Romania, filed for insolvency on September 4, according to data from the Bucharest Court. The court will rule on the company’s request on September 15, Romania-Insider.com reported. The request came a few weeks after Theodor Berna, the company’s administrator and one of its main shareholders, was arrested in a tax evasion and money laundering case. The damages in this case are estimated at some EUR 100 million.