Romanian Company Buys Croatia's Cargo Rail Operator

The Croatian government has selected Romanian privately-held Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR) as the preferred bidder for a 75% stake in freight railway operator HZ Cargo.

The deal, which is to be finalized within a month, is to fetch revenues of around HRK 1 B, which recession-stricken Croatia, the latest EU member, is to use to support its budget.

Grup Feroviar Roman, a subsidiary of Grampet Group, is the second largest railway freight operator in Romania.

In end-June, GFR was selected as the buyer of a 51% stake in Romanian state-owned rail freight carrier CFR Marfa.

GFR is the majority owner of the Bulgarian Railway Company.

GFR was one of the candidates to buy the freight unit of the Bulgarian State Railways company (BDZ), but the privatization process was stopped by the socialist-led government of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski, mediapool.bg reminds.

GFR was the only candidate which covered the criteria for the privatization of HZ Cargo, the two other bidders being Rail Cargo Austria and Czech AWT.

The new owner of HZ Cargo will take over all liabilities of the Croatian company amounting to EUR 106 M and to invest EUR 30 M in renewing the company's rolling stock and covering the lay-off programs for surplus employees.

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