* The company claims that it can also resort to converting bonds into stocks to pay off the debts
The Kazakhs of "KazMunayGaz" (KMG) have not yet completed the negotiations with the Ministry of Finance concerning the buyback of the bonds, but will do so by the end of September. They want to have the Romanian state as a partner in the refinery, the CFO of the "Rompetrol" group, Dmitry Grigoryev, said yesterday in a press conference. "We want to honor all the terms of the contract concerning the debts of Rompetrol Rafinare that were converted into bonds and the decision will be made at the end of September", he said in a conference.
According to the official of "Rompetrol", as well as to the lawyers of the group, the company can pay off these debts, by September 30th, 2010, by partial or total buyback or by converting them in part or in full into shares. Dmitry Grigoryev admitted that the discussions with the Ministry of Finance are focused on this contract, and implied that the state is expecting payment in cash, whereas "Rompetrol" favors the option of the buyback combined with conversion into stock. The attorneys of "Rompetrol" claim that the group controlled by KMG is perfectly entitled to choose this method of paying back its debt, in compliance with the contract concluded with the state.
In the beginning of August, "Rompetrol" paid around 71 million dollars to the state service of the debt. Assuming that "Rompetrol" would no longer make any payments by the maturity of the bonds, the rest of the bonds would be converted into stock, with the state becoming a significant minority shareholder in Rompetrol Rafinare, holding over 40%, the lawyers of the group stated.
The CFO of "Rompetrol" said: "The state does not want to be a shareholder in Rompetrol Rafinare. We are reviewing the possibilities of managing the refinery together with the state.
