* "Roman Copper" to pay 200 million Euros for "Cupru Min"
* The Canadian company has magnate Stephen G. Roman behind it
An alternative for "Cupru Min" would have ben the conclusion of a public-private partnership, Lucian Bode the minister of the Economy recently said, who went on to say the following, one week ago: "I am not necessarily a supporter of selling the controlling interests. (...) In this case (ed. note: "Cupru Min") we could have considered a public-private partnership, not necessarily the full sale of the company. But the privatization deadlines are very tight, the call for tenders will be held at the end of March. We can't postpone it too much, because the company isn't in a very good shape. It has environment-related liabilities which the investor will take on, of more than 90 million Euros".
The privatization of Cupru Min was approved by the Government as early as 2006, and was promised by the government in the letter of intent attached to the stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the agreement, the deadline for the privatization of Cupru Min has been set for the end of April.
The privatization of Cupru Min was imposed by the IMF, together with the privatization of other state owned companies such as Oltchim and the sale of minority stakes in energy companies such as Transgaz, Hidroelectrica or Transelectrica.
Lucian Bode said that he is a supporter of the efficient use of the resources that Romania has, and he also mentioned the Roşia Montană project, where the Romanian state is trying to renegotiate its stake in Roşia Montană Gold Coroporation (RMGC). "I am a supporter of developing the current existing capabilities, which means nothing else but creating jobs. I support the development of all the resources which Romania has, but not haphazardly, but in an efficient manner. What I
