The Romanian State and Italian group Enel will sign the privatisation contract for Electrica Banat and Electrica Dobrogea by the end of April, according to Romanian Economy and Trade minister, Dan Ioan Popescu.

"Enel's bid for Electrica Banat and Electrica Dobrogea is quite competitive and I think that privatisation will be concluded by the end of April," the minister stated.

Inquired by Ziarul Financiar whether an agreement had already been reached with Enel with regard to more layoffs within the two electricity distribution companies, the minister answered: "We have reshaped Electrica into eight branches, we have adopted several restructuring measures and in this context thousands of employees who used to read meters and to overcharge were laid off. I do not think there is a similar problem (layoffs i.e.) in the case of Electrica or the gas distributors, considering certain indicators, such as the ratio between the number of employees and the number of subscribers or kW sold."

These parameters were among the issues considered during talks held with the Italians, who submitted a financial bid similar to those registered in the privatisation of other electricity distributors in Central and Eastern Europe, even though the timeframe is different, Dan Ioan Popescu specified.

According to sources close to negotiations, Enel's financial bid is structured along three important coordinates: the acquisition price of the majority stake in the two branches, the investment programme to be implemented over the next five years and the level of debts at the takeover moment (of about 5,000 billion ROL, 124 million euros, respectively).

Italian state-owned Enel derives annual revenues of above 31 billion euros, being listed on Milan and New York stock exchanges. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro

The R