Romania's Oltchim to cut workforce by one third

10 August 2009 16:47  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--Oltchim will shrink its workforce by one third to 2,593 employees by the end of this year, the financially-troubled Romanian chemical company said on Monday.

The move had been voted through by the company's shareholders as part of a new restructuring plan to run to 2013, it added. Some of the job losses would be covered by outsourcing, the company said.

Loss-making and debt-ridden state-controlled plastics and agrochemicals company Oltchim was currently pushing ahead with plans to buy the Arpechim petrochemical unit of Romania's Petrom group.

Up until it was closed last November, the unit served as Oltchim's main feedstock supplier through a local pipeline. Its closure has left Oltchim operating at a capacity of around one third its potential, with the firm struggling to source alternative feedstock.

The acquisition of the petrochemical unit would be funded by loans that would be largely backed by Romanian state guarantees.

An Oltchim minority shareholder, Germany's Petro Carbo Chem (PCC), last week announced it was challenging the provision of the guarantees through an official complaint to the European Commission Directorate General for Competition. 

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By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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