AVAS received a letter from the Italian company yesterday, expressing its intention of continuing the privatization process of Avioane Craiova.
AVAS decided on May 12 to prolong the deadline for filing offers for Avioane Craiova with another 15 days to give Italy's bidder Alenia Aeronautica S.p.A. more time to present a final offering.
Alenia said it wants to continue negotiations with AVAS starting with the second half of June, after a new analysis is completed at the plant on the investments to be pumped in connection to the business plan.
The state has tried to sell the Romanian company, but failed several times. The privatization was resumed in October 2008 and the deadline to submit offers has been prolonged repeatedly.
Alenia Aeronautica is a member of the Finmeccanica Group, one of the main players in the aviation industry in Italy producing commercial and military planes for the global market. Last year it reported 2.3 billion euros in revenues and employs 13,301 people.
Avioane Craiova, dating from 1972, is now the sole Romanian producer of military planes and of the training IAR 99 SOIM plane, compatible with NATO standards and used by the Romanian Army.
Avioane Craiova has a share capital of 2.29 million lei divided into 915,484 shares at a face value of 2.50 lei. Shares are listed on the Rasdaq over-the-counter market under the symbol AVIO. The Economy Ministry is the majority shareholder, with 80.98 percent of the share capital.
