Another announcement of a secret investor who is supposedly interested in the revival of the former giant of Bulgaria’s chemical industry Chimco was made last week by the new governor of Vratsa, Ventzislav Vassilev. He missed to name the investor but informed the Prime Minister Oresharsky. Oresharsky himself explained that he liked the idea of having the fertilizer plant restored, which is among the priorities for the development of the region. According to him, the plan was realistic, that does not mean easy to implement but still – it was worthwhile to work for it.
Due to ridiculous policies of a number of Bulgarian governments the huge enterprise has permanently stopped working for more than ten years. Since then, many rulers have been promising to do everything possible to restore its operations, but nothing tangible has been done. In this sense in early May, just before the general election, spoke the leader of the socialists in the region, Yanaki Stoilov, who said a joint German-Chinese company was interested in Chimco. The company was more attracted to the indebted giant’s TPP and was reportedly searching for ways to turn it into a gas station, whose energy may be sold on the domestic and foreign market.
A little earlier – in late April, the mayor of Vratsa Nikolay Ivanov also announced that nearly half a year before that a negotiating process had been launched, but the investors remained secret.
During his pre-election trip in northwestern Bulgaria, the chorus of voices promising future for Chimco was joined by the former PM and leader of GERB, Boyko Borissov, who in his typical way said: Chimco will work, I can guarantee it.
Let us remind that the BANKER was the one who urged the government to start looking for ways to secure its claims from the company healer of the plant, yet in 2010, when those in power had long forgotten their terms were expiring. One should not overlook the fact that the then owner of healing unit, Nikolay Galchev, was fooling significant factors in the state administration that he was close to completion of a transaction for the sale of the plant to a strategic investor, and then the debts would be allegedly paid out. These tales did not come true, but the delay the process in time enabled Galchev to delete his name from the Commercial Register.
Banker wrote also that the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism as a principal of the major creditors of the plant had received a proposal from the Austrian Investment Fund to discuss the possibility of settling the company’s obligations and resume part of its production. The problem was that those in power could not reach to a decision back then.
Major creditors to Chimco: Bulgargaz and NEC, holding 87 percent of the company’s total liabilities could have put their claims on the negotiation table and sign an agreement with a potential investor, experts commented. All these efforts, however, proved futile.
Today the news bubble for a revival of Chimco continues to try to gloss thing over in front of the people of the economically troubled Vratsa region, but nobody seem to believe it.
The BANKER
